The bucket on the left is an excellent example of one of the earliest forms of fire bucket. The shape and construction of the bucket is of an early English style of shape and construction. The heraldic crest of 3 lozenges upon a light blue ground is unknown to me but is most likely of English origin and may a device belonging to an institution or town as opposed to being a family crest. The numerals of the date 1736 are to be found divided in the 4 quadrants surrounding the crest.
The interior of the original as well as my reproduction are coated with a pea green paint. This was done in the period to give them a certain amount of waterproofing. Fire buckets were not intended to hold water all of the time, the interior coating were only there to avoid the leather from becoming waterlogged during the fire fighting event. Even buckets lined with pitch, (a thickened form of pine tar) were subject to leaking.
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