Mugs and other ceramics made especially for children were common in the early nineteenth century, often featuring sentimental mottoes, nursery rhymes, alphabets, or morally instructive images. This mug, featuring images from a contemporary British sign language alphabet, clearly had instructional intent.

Charles Barrett III of Ipswich, New Hampshire, who was among the first children to be educated at what is now known as the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut, owned a nearly identical mug. Having lost his hearing at the age of five due to an illness, Charles Barrett III began schooling in Hartford when he was thirteen years of age.

The British sign language system shown on such mugs differed significantly from that taught in the United States, raising questions about their use and meaning in an American context.