Myrna Schkolne: Early Staffordshire Figures

Last night, The Bovine Collection of Derrill Osborn sold at Dallas Auction Gallery. A Texas cattleman? No, Mr. Osborne, I have learned, was a rather flamboyant men's fashion guru who has been fascinated with cows since childhood. There were 338 lots in the sale, whih started at 7p.m on the east coast--yes, midnight in the UK--and may have run till past midnight here. Inevitably, there were Staffordshire cows, in fact there were quite a lot. The Victorian examples fetched poor prices, but then the Victorian market is in the doldrums and the examples were mediocre. There were just a few pre-Victorian figures and they made very respectable prices, reflecting the dearth of these wares on the market. A ho-hum, unspectacular example of a Sherratt bull baiting made either $6000 or $6500 on the hammer. Add premium and convert to sterling and you are over GBP4000. Still a good buy, I think.  The really fascinating figures were this large cow and bull.

I thought the pair striking, but at the size they appeared on my monitor. In reality these beasts are huge. Hold a ruler next to your monitor and imagine over 13" in each dimension. I am not sure I want a pair of household pets. The cows were cataloged as Obadiah Sherratt, which they absolutely are NOT. There is not a single feature of the "Sherratt' style to be seen.

I have seen the bull before, with a farmer alongside. And I have seen the cow as a single. I have seen lots and lots of things--my photo archive has over 10,000 pictures--but I have never seen a figure looking as these did from the back

At first glance, it appeared that the spill holders had broken off the figures and a restorer had modified them thus. But to cut perfectly smooth holes in hard fired pot would have been so difficult. Surely restoring the spills would have been easier? And aside from figures that serve as jugs, I have never seen a figure with a large opening. Something was odd here. I conferred with several other collector and dealer friends. None of us had ever seen the like of this. Restoration was the consensus. So I wrote to Dallas Auction Gallery. I got an impressively prompt and detailed reply, along with very large scale images. These figures were indeed made exactly as they appear. The guess is that perhaps they were commissioned thus for a butcher's shop. A lamb chop in one opening and a chicken wing in the other? Who knows.

As you know, I am always tickled to learn something new and I sat up last night watching the auction. Bidding on this pair (estimate $7,000-12,000) opened at $9,000 because the auction house had two absentee bids. The pair went for $9,000, with the auctioneer muttering that the bidder would have been prepared to pay $12,000. (Must admit, I have never heard that type of information disclosed!). Maybe this time these bovine beasts have indeed gone to a Texas cattleman with an oversized mantle. In the right spot, they will look grand.

When I look at a figure, I always look beneath the base first because it has not been enameled and it tells me so much about the pot and the glaze. Look at the base of one of these cows and you will see what I mean. Lovely. In fact, I almost like the bottoms best.