Accession records attribute this jug to Nathan Clark & Co. because of the Lyons mark. It should be noted that there were several stoneware potters working in Lyons who may have produced this piece. Nathan Clark established a Lyons, New York pottery in 1822. The local manager at the Lyons site was George Williams, who had been trained at Clark's Athens pottery. Williams continued until 1835, when he was assigned to open the Mount Morris site, and his replacement was Thompson Harrington, who ultimately purchased the Lyons site from the Clark family in 1852.

The Mantell pottery was established by John Campbell early in the ninteenth century, the business being afterward taken over by James Mantell, wo is said to have brought his clay from New Jersey. This jug was made during the partnership of James Mantell and Shem Thomas, who worked together from 1854-1856. James Mantell employed a traveling salesman named Ezra Warren, who peddled stoneware throughout Penn Yan and neighboring towns from a horse and wagon.

Luke Beard's beverage company was located in the Howard Atheneum Building on Howard Street in Boston. The company, which later operated under the firm name of Fairbanks and Beard, manufacted draft and bottled cider, ale, porter, soda, and mineral-water throughout the mid-nineteenth century. The firm was owned by "L. BEARD" from 1847 to 1854. A large portion of the buisness consisited of manufacturing "french mineral and soda waters," which was introduced into this country from France, by Mr. Roselle, of Philadelphia. Beard was the first to manufacture and sell that mineral-water flavored with raspberry syrup. All orders for exportation were "put up securely, in the best style, at short notice." This object was once part of the folk art collection of Elie Nadelman (1882-1946), the avant-garde sculptor. From 1924 to 1934, Nadelman's collection was displayed in his Museum of Folk Arts, located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The Historical Society purchased Nadelman's entire collection in 1937.