Monthly Archives: June 2015

Art deco, Hunting John Peel, Seriesware

Collecting Doulton’s ‘Hunting – John Peel’ seriesware pattern.

Leave a comment

This series together with Coaching Days and Royal Mail are easily mistaken for one another on first glance given their similar palette. There were a handful of other patterns  to Hunting – John Peel all celebrating this once popular pastime, now out of favour. 

  
There are 9 recorded patterns dating from 1924 to an unknown withdrawal date. Some are often found in combination as you can see above and below with scenes 2 & 3. 

  
Interestingly the later designs bear an H number (1947) rather than the traditional D numbers associated with seriesware or the very early patterns that have the earlier E numbers if they were on china.

  
The great thing about seriesware is that the possibilities for making a collection are plentiful! Naturally you can collect one particular pattern, or miniatures, or particular shapes or like me pin dishes and ash trays like the one above! 

Art deco, Artists, Coaching days, Coaching scenes, Displays, Doulton, Seriesware

Collecting Doulton’s Coaching Days seriesware pattern.

Leave a comment

One of Doulton’s most popular seriesware lines remains their Coaching Days series. Introduced in 1905 and finally withdrawn in 1955, examples from this series can be found but earlier shapes and ceramic bodies make certain pieces more sought after! 

  
Earthenware was the typical body but examples can be found on a china body. The series was originally designed by Victor Venner between c.1904-1924, with unknown others contributing designs too. 

  
With 20 recorded scenes and a multitude of shapes that the series can be found on, this series provides much scope for collectors to assemble an impressive display. Above is a pin tray from my own collection. 

Unusual scenes do turn up such as the one on the small pie crust dish. Labelled as E3804, it is an unusual find and on china too, hence the E number.  

 

Examples of Coaching Days are easily confused with both ‘Royal Mail’ and ‘Hunting John Peel’ scenes and do display well together! 

Art deco, Artists, Child figures, Figure Articles, Figure inspiration, Leslie Harradine

Collecting Royal Doulton child studies.

Leave a comment

When we think of Doulton many think immediately of pretty ladies and young girls in crinolines, yet here is another collecting theme although generally much harder to track down.  

These studies of boys by Doulton were the work of Leslie Harradine and date to the late 1920’s through to the 1950’s. Although there are only a handful of male figures, if you have the patience to track them down they make a complimentary display to their female counterparts! 

  
The popularity of child studies has long been a favoured collecting field for Doulton enthusiasts, once again bourne out by the enduring popularity of HN1 Darling – a Charles  Vyse study of a boy in his nightgown modelled after his Chelsea original and introduced in his original size in 1913. 

Blackjacks, Displays, Doulton, Lambeth, Leatherware

Collecting Doulton leatherware and blackjacks!

Leave a comment

  
Two blackjacks with silver collars dating them to 1891 and 1900.

These simulated blackjacks and other items date from 1887-c. 1914 and are realistic to the eye with stitching and also the imitation of various types of leather. 

  
Leatherware motto jugs and drinking cups.

These wares, typically jugs, can be found with applied mottos again in imitation stitching and were considered to be of sufficient quality to be produced with silver mounts too. 

  
Rare copper and leatherware jug.

Rarely examples of Leatherware and Copperware have been found used together, the two colours making a striking contrast.

  
Unusual nursery jug with elaborate silver collar from 1905.

Novelty items can also be found including a match holder and this children’s mug featuring the rhyme ‘Tom, Tom the piper’s son’. 

   

Animals, Artists, Raoh Schorr

The sculptor Raoh Schorr’s work for Royal Doulton. 

Leave a comment

  
Catalogue cover from 1937.

Schorr was a renowned animal sculptor and Doulton always keen to be ahead of the game, commissioned him to produce a range of Art Sculptures for Royal Doulton in 1936. This series of animals are all rare today and the ones that typically turn up tend to be the more sentimental models such as the Sleeping Calf or Moufflon Lying. There were two size groups produced, a small size ranging from 2-6” and a large size of c. 11”. 

  
Large size Buffalo.

The majority of models were small and it is these which turn up occasionally. Schorr’s models were available in naturalistic colouring, white matt or a green bronze, although I have read that they were also available in black basalt. I have seen only two examples of the large animals, the fox HN1130 both of which painted naturalistically and only once have I seen the large Asiatic Elephant in a green-bronze glaze. Desmond Eyles wrote in The Doulton Burslem Wares that the range “although highly regarded by art critics they did not meet with much public response” and they were swiftly withdrawn, he says in the war years, but I have only seen animals with impressed dates before 1939.

  
Catalogue page illustrating the three finishes available.