This decanter jug set with 4 small cups once belonged to my late grandfather. It is very old. Not sure exactly how old. In the 1960's when I was a young child, I remember seeing it in a glass display case. I asked my grandfather if that was him on the jug and he replied that it was John Coleman. I am not sure if it is true or whether he just said that, but apparently John Coleman was a talented Essendon player.
The player on the jug has short white shorts, long socks and black footy boots.
It is in excellent condition. Make sure you look at both photos, as the opposite side is in the shape of a football.
Some of the stripes on the cups are a little faded and have come off in some places. Tiny chip on the base which is hardly noticeable. cork top with pottery cap. On the base: DIANA. Diana pottery was around from the mid 1940's to 1975.
Great gift for any collector of Essendon memorabilia.
Happy to arrange for a pick up from my home in Box Hill.
Postage will vary between $10 and $20 depending on how far you are from Melbourne. This is what I found on the net regarding Diana Pottery: There was a burgeoning of Australian pottery in the 1960s and 70s. The
most important manufacturer from this period was Diana, Diana produced
bright "gumnut" pots with pale green and brown glaze.
Diana Ware- In 1940 Eric Lowe set up a pottery in Marrickville, Sydney. During
the war they produce cups and mugs for navy and munitions cantens, along with
tea pots and milk jugs. In 1946 a large variety of slip cast vases, in many
colours, shapes and sizes, book ends, animal figures, table ware, utility
and kitchen ware in over 200 different shapes were made. By 1952 they were
employing 70 hands who were producing a large range of hand painted articles
which included "Waltzing
Matilda" musical mugs and jugs. A 1960 catalogue shows a range of
decorated oven and kitchen ware hand painted in maple, poinsettia, cornflower,
blackberry, wattle, flannel flower, and a prawn design.
In the 1960's, Diana Pottery, under the name 'Hollywood',
made a variety of slip cast vases or brightly coloured glazed, or sprayed
with a Cream glaze creating a speckled texture finish were made, some have
been found with a stamp and/or a paper label. Also in the 1960's, under the
name 'Imperial', a variety of small slip cast vases hand decorated
in Gold were made for a gift shop in the Imperial Arcade Sydney.(reference
'Encyclopedia Of Australian Potters Marks' by Geoff Ford)This is what I found on John Coleman:
 John Coleman Essendon flies for a high mark.
IT IS as though John Coleman's
whole existence was destined to be meteoric.
He played only 98 games before injury ended his dazzling career at
25. He coached for only seven years, winning two premierships,
before stepping away at 38. He died suddenly in 1973, leaving a
wife and two teenage daughters, at 44. Had he lived, he would still
not be quite 80.
That so much was nipped in the bud understandably caused deep
grief for many, yet it also ensured that the Coleman name will
forever be surrounded with a mystical aura. The legend of John Coleman remains one of football's
greatest stories.
He has been described as the game's first superstar. He was a
player of such charismatic brilliance that spectators changed ends
with him to watch his every move from the best possible vantage
point. It's said that he didn't just take two or three spectacular
marks a season, or even a game, he took that number during the
average quarter. The pity of it is that it happened just before the
arrival of television and we must rely on frozen images to try to
grasp Coleman's freakish brilliance.
What images they are. They depict athleticism, pace, balance,
courage, and - of course - a phenomenal leap. Essendon teammate,
the late Geoff Leek, once said: "I'm nearly 6 foot 5 (195
centimetres) and Coleman jumped over my head, not once, but
often."
My personal favourite Coleman photo is that of the iconic mark
taken at Arden Street and captured in five frames, beginning at
lift-off and ending with a graceful landing.
Tellingly, the arms and hands make no contact with his North
Melbourne opponent and Coleman's eyes never leave the ball.
This sequence was featured on the front cover of the Footy Record
when, as a child, I first went to the football in northern
Tasmania. I recall week after week gazing at it in rapt awe.
Coleman's own early childhood was in Port Fairy, where he was born
in 1928. His parents moved to Melbourne when he was 11, then, at
the end of World War II, to Tyabb.
The young Coleman continued his commerce studies at University
High and travelled home on weekends.
He played his first game for Hastings in 1947 and kicked eight
goals. Later that year, he booted 11 in the grand final against
Frankston.
The following year, in a game against Sorrento, he kicked 23 on
his way to a season's tally of 160.
Such feats didn't go unnoticed and, after training with Essendon
during the pre-season of 1948, the following year Coleman committed
to the Dons.
His record-breaking debut, 12 goals against Hawthorn at Windy
Hill, still stands as one of football's most stunning
achievements.
Later that year, in the dying minutes of Essendon's premiership
victory, Coleman became the first man in nine years to score a
hundred goals in a season. In a remarkable entry to the game's
toughest competition, he also won his club's best-and-fairest award
and finished fourth in the Brownlow Medal.
That Coleman would not only score three centuries of goals in his
five full seasons in the VFL, but be the only man between Jack
Titus in 1940 and Peter Hudson in 1968 to achieve the feat, speaks
eloquently of his unique ability as a goalkicker.
In his time, he was in a league of his own.
The end came in round eight of the 1954 season. In what was
shaping as perhaps his best year, Coleman had kicked 14 goals the
previous week against Fitzroy and had five before half-time at
Windy Hill against North Melbourne. But in trying to mark a low
pass from Jack Clarke, he fell to the ground in agony and
dislocated his right knee.
Although there would be an attempt to come back in 1956, Coleman's
career was over. He had kicked 537 goals from only 98 games. In the
years since, only Hudson has eclipsed his goal-scoring average of
5.48 a game.
For seven years, from 1961, he coached the Bombers, winning the
lifelong respect and affection of those under his tutelage as well
as two premierships. After ill-health caused him to relinquish the
job at the end of 1967, he settled into life as a publican.
In early April 1973, Coleman took ill at his Dromana Hotel and
died of coronary thrombosis.
The following Saturday at Windy Hill, a crowd of 25,000 observed a
minute's silence for the man many of his era regarded as the most
brilliant to have ever pulled on a boot.
COLEMAN
Born: November 28, 1928.
Died: April 5, 1973 of a heart attack.
Height: 184cm. Weight: 80.5kg
Club: Essendon
Recruited from: Hastings
VFL/AFL debut: round 1 v Hawthorn, 1949
Games: 98
Goals: 537
Honours: Leading Essendon goal kicker 1949, '50, '51, '52, '53,
'54;
leading VFL goal kicker 1949, '50, '52, '53; Essendon premiership
player 1949, '50.
Coached Essendon premiership sides 1961, '65.
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