We live in a marvelous age! From my home in Dallas, I am fortunate to be able to keep in touch with collectors of early Staffordshire figures in the US and UK, as well as those further afield. I value the friendships forged over the years and am always excited to hear of additions to my distant collector friends' shelves. To me, the most interesting collections are those that embrace unusual figures of great merit, figures that both tantalize their owners' intellects as well as please their eyes. Just recently, a valued collector friend sent me photographs of two figures that he acquired in Portugal, of all places.

The first figure, below, portrays St. John the Baptist and is titled "S. JOAO", presumably the Portuguese equivalent of St. John. The figure is extraordinarily rare, the only other example I know of being in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (See Vol. 2 of Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840). Because John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Lamb of God, there is a lamb next to the figure.

This figure is impressed "4" on the reverse. The example in the Fitzwilliam Museum in impressed "No. 4". ​Figures such as this were made by Enoch Wood for the Portuguese market in the 1820s, and this figure may well have been in Portugal for the last two hundred or so years. Other figures also numbered and styled in this manner are among the Enoch Wood shards of circa 1825 excavated from the Burslem Old Town Hall site in 1938. Several of these figures appear to once have had metal fittings. In this case, John the Baptist has a  hole on the top of his head, and the accumulation of wax around it suggests it accommodated a candleholder of sorts.

This figure is impressed "N. 5" on the reverse. The example I show in Vol. 2 of Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840 is impressed "No. 5".

The figures or John the Baptist and St. Emanuel are both a good eight to nine inches tall.  I suspect they have lived together in Portugal since the 1820s, but they have now been repatriated to the UK.

​Did you notice the holes in St. Emanuel's chest, right above his nipples? There are similar holes in his ears. That's because a long-ago owner modified the figure to reflect Emanuel's martyrdom. He clearly went to great trouble to do so and had high-quality (perhaps silver) arrows made to fit in the holes. The hole in the top of Emanuel's head, on the other hand, is original and was intended to accommodate a metal object of sorts--perhaps a halo. 

The figures Enoch Wood made for his Portuguese customers all seem to have been religious in nature, and many were numbered on the reverse. How many numbered figure models were made? I suggest that there had to have been at least 11 figures in the numbered series because the unpainted figure  shown below is impressed "No. 11" on the reverse. Impressed  "S. SEBASTI. O, M"  (St. Sebastian Obiit Martyris) on the front, it represents the martyred St. Sebastian.  Now in the Potteries Museum, it is among material excavated from the Enoch Wood site. 

If the figure of St. Sebastian looks vaguely familiar to you, it is probably because St. Sebastian comes for sale relatively frequently. Too often touted as "early,"every example I have seen can be attributed to the Kent factory, which seems to have produced these figures in abundance circa 1900. 

Also in the Potteries Museum and also known only from an unpainted figure excavated from the Enoch Wood site is the figure below of the virgin martyr St. Barbara. It is impressed "S. Barbar. V. M." (St. Barbara Virgin Martyris) on the front and "No.3" on the reverse.

Below, and again known from only this one example, is this lovely figure of St. Lucy, impressed "S. LUZIA" and "No. 9".

Yet another of the numbered figures is this Pieta, showing Mary cradling Jesus in her arms, and impressed "No. 6" behind.

Although this Pieta is untitled, but the only other recorded example, an unpainted group in the Potteries Museum, is impressed "N. S. DA PIEDADE" on the front and "No. 6" on the reverse. Seen below, notice that Jesus is missing from Mary's arms, and I suspect that this group, again excavated from the site associated with Enoch Wood, may well have been a reject.

To summarize, I show our six Enoch Wood figures in this numbered series below. Assuming there were eleven models, we are over halfway to recording them all...but the number sequence may well have run quite a bit higher. These are all impressive figures that are interesting, eye-catching, and particularly rare--in some cases, unique. It is a sad reflection on collecting tastes that most collectors would overlook them. 

If collecting were merely about purchasing, the fun would soon fade. Buying and buying and buying, rather like overeating, is ultimately unrewarding. For me, the fun is in the "hunt"--that relentless pursuit of a particular figure to fill a gap in my collection. Of course, this takes endless vigilance that is rewarded only sometimes.

About fifteen years ago, I bought the little dog below at auction in the UK. Titled "& VAL LAY", she clearly was one of a pair, and I would have loved to have owned her mate too.

At the time, I recognized VAL  as having all the attributes of a "Sherratt" figure, so I looked in Malcolm Hodkinson's fantastic little book  "Sherratt? A Natural Family." My little dog, whom I dub Val, was not recorded in the book, but Malcolm had devoted a whole chapter to a sub-group of "Sherratt" figures that he titled "The Rover Group." Who is Rover? Well, he is none other than the companion figure to Val.

I took Val to England in around 2004 to photograph her together with Rover, who lives in a private collection. As you see, they make a perfect pairing, and the  titles read "ROVER & VAL LAY." 

As pretty as the pair is, these dogs reside  an ocean apart. I have searched for all these years to find a Rover to pair with my Val, but to no avail. The only other Rover I have seen is the dog below, untitled, with a different "Sherratt" bocage and a black rather than deep brown coat.

Once upon a time, I am sure there was an untitled figure of Val to pair with the untitled Rover, but until last month I had not come across another Val of any sort. Then, unexpectedly, the figure of Val below came my way. This time her coat is black, and she has a "Sherratt" bocage not seen on any of the other Rover and Val pooches.

So now my problems have compounded: I have two figures of Val, BOTH of which need a Rover. I must continue looking!

Unrecorded figures do keep coming to light. Recently, John Howard added this sweet little cow spill vase to his site. The floral garlands on the base are a definitive "Sherratt" feature, and the cow is of the same form as other "Sherratt" cows, so I am confident of the attribution.

I was still mulling this nice addition to the body of "Sherratt" figures, when, believe it or not, the companion vase, below, went through auction

What are the odds of two unrecorded figures that form a pair surfacing on the market within weeks of each other? Apparently, it can happen, and not knowing what will turn up next makes collecting exciting.

Recently, I bought a small pair of figures at auction in the US. Thrown into a lot of five figures, they certainly did not get the respect they deserve. They are an unrecorded pair of enamel-painted figures that can be attributed to Ralph Wood and date to circa 1785. I know of figures of this form only from a pair in the literature, said to be in the Southport Museum. Both the museum figures are unpainted and are impressed "Ra. Wood Burslem"; and the male figure is impressed "78" in the manner of other Ralph Wood figures.

It is disappointing, but not surprising, that the auction house did not catalog this charming early pair in a manner that reflects their significance and rarity. On the other hand, how many collectors care? Collecting has, in my opinion, reached new lows, with far too much emphasis being placed on cuteness and perfection (never mind if the latter has only been achieved with considerable effort from an expert restorer.)  

The year 2018 has, so far, been rather dull in that the supply of figures coming to auction has almost dried up. Disappointingly, I have made no major discoveries of unrecorded early Staffordshire pottery figures. No new bullbaitings, menageries, or large bocage groups of any sort---but the smaller figures continue to reward my aggressive sleuthing. Figures on the subject of bird nesting have been remarkably satisfying, so let's look a few of these discoveries.

To start, most of us are familiar with the sweet bird nesting figures made by Ralph Salt. Perhaps we remember them for no other reason than we have drooled over them in print, because these picture-pretty figures are very hard to find today. 

The pair above is impressed with the maker's mark SALT on the reverse. Other potters too used these molds to make identical or closely similar figures. For example, the boy alongside is marked HALL.

About two years ago, I was pleased to discover the little bird nester girl below on the site of the late Aurea Carter. Clearly the figure is from the same molds as the SALT girl, above.

Although this little figure is unmarked, it displays several distinctive features that enable attribution to the pot bank I have dubbed the Blue Group (See Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840, volume 1). Where there is a single figure, there was usually once a pair, and just this past month a Blue Group pair appeared at auction.

The "Sherratt" pot bank is a favorite among collectors who prize its stunning table  groups--ale benches, weddings, christenings, bullbaitings, and, of course, menageries, to name a few. But small "Sherratt" figures are just as sweet, and they sell for a teeny fraction of the price because they are largely overlooked. "Sherratt" too made figures on the bird nesting theme, and I had recorded the two below  in my publications.

About a year or so ago, I came across the little "Sherratt" group below. Although damaged, I strongly suspect that it too is a bird nesting group and that the figures once held a bird and a nest.

My small discoveries are immensely rewarding. Understanding their connections to other figures helps me make sense out ot the plethora of figures that were once made and instills a little intellectual rigor into our collecting field. Best of all, these small figures can usually be found for a pittance. They have not had the exposure that glitzier groups have had, but, to my mind, a small unrecorded figure is of more interest and value than yet another of the larger, costlier figures collectors covet.

The smallest variations in figures can be quite perplexing. In Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840, volume 3, I recorded seven variations of this boy with a bird's nest in his hat. I have recorded far more than the seven figures shown in print....and in each case the hat is held in the left hand. ​

As I discover figures that contribute to our published collecting knowledge, I add them to earlystaffordshirefigures.com. Included on that site are figures decorated with colored glazes and those decorated with colored glazes, like the pairs below. If you have anything you think should be added, please share it with me at myrna.schkolne@gmail.com.

The drop-dead-gorgeous equestrians spill vase shown below is in Brighton Museum's Willett Collection, and it truly is the most eye-catching of Staffordshire pottery groups.

Also in the Willett Collection is the  coursing spill vase, below. Like the equestrians vase, it can be attributed to the Leather Leaf Group. Although both vases are from the same pot bank, I would not have thought them to be companion pieces...but read along and learn with me!

A while ago, I visited a private collection. The collectors own an equestrians spill vase (very like that at the top of this column.) They also own the spill vase below, which I had not seen before. To my eye, this vase with its single equestrian seemed to be the companion to the coursing spill vase shown immediately above.  

When I visit collections, I often find collectors have things tucked away, and this visit was no exception. As we got talking after dinner, we opened up a lower cabinet housing items that were not on display.  To my surprise, a coursing spill vase emerged. We placed it alongside the vase with a single male equestrian, and the match was perfect.

A light bulb went on in my rather slow brain: surely these two vases belonged with the equestrians vase that the collector had in a distant room? I couldn't reach for it fast enough...and sure enough, all three vases were painted in the same palette. I arranged them side by side, and lo and behold: we had a stunning garniture. Below is a rather inadequate picture that I snapped with my camera in that first flush of excitement. See what I mean?

I believe that this garniture portrays a circus routine rather than real-life hunting. Remember, in those days ladies did not hunt....but the circus staged re-enactments of hunts, complete with baying hounds, and many of the circus's performers were skilled horse women, who who took part in these staged entertainments.

The collector who owns this garniture was delighted to discover he had it! He had acquired a collection of figures very many years ago, but he had not realized that these three vases belonged together. He has stuck a note in each vase to remind future owners (and sloppy auction houses) that each vase is related to the others.

I had assumed that three was the sum total of the related vases in this garniture, but something else has turned up. Just recently, this lot went through auction.

The group on the right is rather like the one  in the three-piece garniture, but this time the dog is standing rather than lying. On the other hand, the group on the left is quite different.. Hmm, does this mean that garniture could potentially have five pieces or seven or nine.? Of course, we will never know. Meanwhile, just one of these vases stands very handsomely on its own!

Another strange thing about the newly-discovered vase on the left is the small cottage perched atop it. It does make me wonder whether there was once a cottage atop the steps on the vase on the left of the three-piece garniture. I have otherwise seen a cottage of this form only once, as below.

Whereas all the spill vases shown here can be attributed to the Leather Leaf Group, I have no basis for attributing this petite cottage, but is it not the sweetest treasure?

This post raises more questions than it answers, but if collecting were not mentally stimulating it would be a rather boring pastime, would it not?

The Staffordshire pottery figure group below is known as Liberty and Matrimony, the idea being that the bird on her hand represents Freedom, while the cage he holds symbolizes the restraints of marriage. Made by Ralph Wood circa 1785, it may well be the earliest bocage group in my collection Although I have seen similar examples over the years, this is the first that has been right for my collection. Firstly, it is a very attractive example in really nice condition. Secondly and unusually, much of the bocage is intact--and what a lovely bocage too. And thirdly, it is impressed "89" beneath. Yes, I would have preferred it to have been marked "Ra. Wood Burslem," but the impressed number is the next closest thing to the Ralph Wood mark.

Titled COURTSHIP and MATRIMONY, they read, 

I bought my pearlware Liberty and Matrimony group on eBay, where it was listed initially as Italian porcelain. By the time the seller learned the error of his ways and corrected the mistake it seems to have been too late, because I bought it for a ridiculously small amount of money. Price aside, I am thrilled to have it.

Another recent purchase--this time not at a given-away price--is a splendid pair of figures of Simon and Iphigenia. I first saw a pair just like this when I photographed at the Wisbech and Fenland Museum. My friend Nick Burton was with me, and we were both really taken with the museum's pair. The figures are taller than most. He is 9.5" and she is a hair under 9", and they have a presence that a photo just doesn't capture.​

Simon (spelled Cymon) is the hero in The Decameron, a novella set in Cyprus and written around 1350 by Giovanni Boccaccio. The narrative tells of Cymon, who, deemed a dolt by his aristocratic father, is sent to live and work with his father’s slaves in the countryside. In this environment, Cymon becomes increasingly coarse. One day, he comes upon highborn Iphigenia, slumbering in a field. He is so smitten by her beauty that his noble bearing surfaces and his father reinstates him. Iphigenia was promised to another, but this tale of wars and abduction in the name of love ends happily with Cymon and Iphigenia united for life. In 1700, John Dryden published his Fables, Ancient and Modern, containing the story as a poem. For the record, the figure of Simon is modeled from a figure Paul Louis Cyfflé made for Lunéville, but the origins of Iphigenia are not known.

Although my figures of Simon and Iphigenia are unmarked, I believe Ralph Wedgwood made them circa 1795, and I say this because the titles are impressed in a small serif font found only on figures associated with Wedgwood. Below is my Wedgwood "Charity," and you can see she is marked (on the reverse) and titled in the same font.

The devil is in the details when it comes to attributing figures, and it is easy to slip up, which I have done with this pair of figures of Neptune and Venus.

Venus is titled (twice) in small impressed serif font on the reverse, and for that reason I attributed this pair to Wedgwood. My conclusion has always nagged at  me a little because the enamels on this pair are streets superior to those found on other figures made by Wedgwood or by any other potter for that matter. The silky touch of the glaze and the color palette shouts "Neale," and that made me look at the font more closely. Indeed, the font used for VENUS differs from that used on marked Wedgwood figures in that:

• Wedgwood letters are all the same size, whereas the "V" in Venus is larger than the other letters.
• Wedgood letters are a tad blockier.  

 I have to conclude that Wedgwood did not make my Venus and Neptune!

So who did make Venus and Neptune? I fall back on my Neale hypothesis. Add to this, the combination of  circles and dots  on the garment Venus wears is similar to that frequently seen on other Neale figures...but  also on a few figures I just can't attribute. Possibly Neale made this Neptune and Venus, but I have no argument that would hold up in court. On the other hand, trying to disprove theories is how scientific reasoning evolves, so why should our approach to pottery be any different? I look forward to someone stepping forth with a better hypothesis.

And while I am eating humble pie and pointing out errors, here's one more. In Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840, I show the figure of a horse, below. I could not examine the figure because all I had was this one gritty photo of it, but I included it in  the HORSES chapter, because I really thought it was a horse.

Then a year or two ago, the figure below appeared, complete with horn. Clearly my "horse" was intended to be a unicorn!

If I live long enough, I am sure I will find that each and every early Staffordshire figure has a companion, and so I was delighted to receive the photo below just this past week. Sure enough, the unicorn's companion is a lion. As these beasts are the supporters on either side of England's royal coat of arms, the pairing is quite appropriate. Aren't they lovely?

I hate making mistakes--let's face it, nobody enjoys being wrong--but nothing ventured nothing gained. Each mistake teaches me a little more and helps me inch along the learning curve.

Every six months or so, I brace for the tedious task of updating my other website, earlystaffordshirefigures.com. That site hosts newly discovered Staffordshire figures, variations on figures, and anything and everything I have gleaned since publishing Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840, vols. 1-4. Each time I update, I am amazed at how much I have learned in the process.

Several of the new additions to earlystaffordshirefigures.com have helped me fill in blanks in our knowledge base. For example,  I have long owned the single figure of the season Summer, seen below. The figure is of dazzlingly fine quality, and she stands well on her own. The garlands on the base are akin to "Sherratt'' signatures, so I confidently attribute the figure to "Sherratt."  Perplexingly, she has been the only "Sherratt" Season known to me, but I have firmly believed that  "Sherratt" would have made all four Seasons, not just one.

The long dry spell on "Sherratt" Seasons ended last month with the appearance of the figure below, a "Sherratt" Autumn.

The "Sherratt" Autumn appears to be of the same fine quality as the "Sherratt" Summer, and, as you see, those same garlands are atop his base. Although these two figures had different homes for Lord knows how long, I am working on reuniting them. May I only live long enough to discover the  remaining "Sherratt" Seasons!

The little reading boy below has long been an attribution riddle. I have always been sure he was made by John Dale--the facial features are so like those of many other Dale figures--but I lacked evidence that would stand up in court!

I was doubly delighted when not one but two figures appeared recently confirming a Dale attribution. The floral garlands on the base of the boy below are a definitive Dale feature, and the companion girl--a hitherto unrecorded figure--has them too. 

The sweet small pair below are new additions to my knowledge base, and like all things newly discovered or unrecorded in today's post, you will also find them at earlystaffordshirefigures.com

A collector contacted me recently about the little bust below. Any idea who she is? Her hauntingly sweet face is impressed on my mind, but I am stumped as to whom she might portray. If you know, please shout. I will be adding her to earlystaffordshirefigures.com next go-around, and I hope we can collectively identify her by then.

A new discovery that may not be everyone's cup of tea is the figure of St. Anne below. It would have been made by Enoch Wood in the mid-1820sa for the Portuguese market.

This plump theatrical figure portrays an actor in the role of the broom lady, and I have not seen another quite like it. The figure's rather beefy form hints at it being Mr. Liston, the renowned comic, who appeared as the Broom Lady in the 1820s. The figure is decorated in colors that suggest it was made in Scotland or perhaps by one of the northeast pot banks.

I had not seen the model of Shakespeare below until it cropped up recently. It is quite unlike the more classical, refined models we usually see. In short, it looks more like pottery than porcelain, and the red and yellow enamels are eye-catching.

The figure below was known to me only from a small black and white photo, so I was thrilled to see it in full color when it went through auction at Skinners recently. The carefully posed youth is Adonis, known to the Greeks for his remarkable beauty. The figure is important because it is unique and it is marked WEDGWOOD, so it was made by Ralph Wedgwood in the late eighteenth century. Its rarity was appreciated, and it made a good price at auction.

The Grand Finale for my roundup of some recent discoveries is this very large figure that probably portrays the nymph Salmacis, whose body was united with that of Hermaphroditus to form a single being that was both male and female. At 73 cms or 28.74 inches, it is the second tallest figure on record. 

Collecting for pure beauty is pleasurable enough, but knowing the features that make a figure rare or unusual adds another very rewarding dimension to my collecting journey. 

Collecting old objects, I am told, has fallen from favor with millennials, who are said to believe that money is for buying memories, not material objects. They prefer splurging on fleeting pleasures--think spa time, rock concert tickets, sky diving adventures--that involve no long-term commitment. In short, millennials want to spend on experiences rather than "things."  They believe that their adventures will give them more social media sharing opportunities, more to talk (or boast) about with their friends (all those people that they encounter predominantly in cyberspace.) As millennials sit in their boringly bare minimalist homes gazing at their iPads, they have a lot to learn!  We collectors know that owning a beautiful object is an enduringly thrilling experience. Again and again, handling it makes your heart beat a little faster, and you catch your breath as its sheer beauty overwhelms you. Who can say that about a long-gone frivolous pleasure? 

​I bought the plaque below known as Patricia and her Lover many years ago.  Each time I look at it or even think of it, I catch my breath. It is impressively large at 13.8" and was made circa 1785. It is attributed to Ralph Wood.

In my early collecting days, I fell in love with this plaque, pictured (but the negative was flipped) in John Hall's Staffordshire Portrait Figures, and I often opened that little book just to gaze at it. The colors are particularly strong, and they are in the glaze itself, which makes them especially vibrant. Patricia and her admirer  are in super-high relief...but it is the faces that grab my attention. Clearly, Patricia is flirting with him, and they both know it. Her coquetry, his lust, and the little dog's playfulness are age-old emotions that bring to life an object made about 230 years ago. 
​
In the 1990s we regularly visited New York, and I would admire the pottery displayed in Leo Kaplan’s beautiful Madison Avenue shop window. For a while the window held a pair of separate plaques of Patricia and her lover, like the pair below.

Below is the source engraving for these plaques. It is titled  Jack on a Cruise and sub-titled Avast there! Back your mainsail.” Patricia’s billowing skirt is no doubt the “mainsail,”and it has been suggested that the plaque was perhaps a commentary on “the extravagant millinery of the end of the 18th century.” Clearly, the plaque should also be called "Jack on a Cruise" rather than "Patricia and her Lover," and I don't know why it is not.

​A similar engraving on the same theme is also found transfer-printed on mugs, as seen on the creamware mug alongside.

For completion, I note that Ralph Wood is thought to be the potter who also made this subject on a square plaque, as shown below. I know of only this colored example (again, does it still exist?), as well as one plaque that was left in the white (in the Willett Collection). As you see, the figures on the square plaque differ from those on the oval one. And I suspect the design does not have the astonishingly high relief found on the oval plaque.

My oval plaque pictured at the top of this post is an awesome object—and I mean that in the literal sense of the words.  I pause in silent homage each time I look at it. When I take it off the wall to handle it—which I do always for special visitors—I still get goosebumps. Despite its size, it is very light because it is so thinly potted. The relief is very high. The back is dry (unglazed) and coated with dirt from the kiln and from hanging in rooms heated by coal. The inked mark on the reverse  reads “ASPATRIA CUMBERLAND” and is probably the mark of a former owner who lived in the Cumberland town of Aspatria.

Because plaques like this have been documented in the literature for many years, it is easy to conclude that a plethora of them exist. Not so! Rather, best I can tell, the same two plaques seem to have been recorded again and again--although telling one from the other in old, black and white photographs is exacting.

Today, I looked up my collection records to see what I paid for our Patricia and her Lover, and it was shockingly expensive.....but it was worth every penny because it is an experience in pleasure that I have enjoyed for ages and intend enjoying for the rest of my days. Will younger generations feel the same way about their frivolous pleasurable experiences? I doubt it. They believe objects depreciate while memories appreciate. Oh, do they have a lot to learn! 

In the last century, several gentlemen collectors shared their collections within the pages of volumes that I still treasure today. As I turn the yellowed pages of those old books and peer at each faded black and white photo, I wish I had known these extraordinary men---but, above all, I wish they had shared the behind-the-scenes stories of how they built their amazing collections.
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As we all know, a large part of collecting pleasure is the thrill of the chase, that often-bumpy journey along the path to ownership. For we collectors, each long-sought-after object ultimately is both a beautiful object and a memory capsule of sorts. Yet when we die, our collections die too; they become mere assemblages of objects seeking new homes. One day, my much-loved ceramic children will find new resting places. To share their tales with their future owners, I have written my collecting memoir. It narrates my journey through the collecting world--how I bought each item, where I found it, why I wanted it. It is copiously illustrated with beautiful photographs of the ceramic figures, plaques, and busts that are its stars.

Good news: the book is jam-packed with the large pictures we collectors want and it is available as a FREE download on this site. Go to the "Books" tab in the menu bar at the top of this page, where you will find links for downloading Obsession.

Staffordshire pottery busts of the Rev. John Wesley.... do I  hear you yawn? Surely there are more Staffordshire pottery busts of this Evangelical preacher than there are of any other individual, and most hardly set the collector's heart a-flutter. But the story behind the Wesley busts is rather interesting, so bear with me for a little while.

In 1781, Enoch Wood, just 22 years old, modeled a bust of the Rev. John Wesley, then 78. Wesley sat for Wood five times, and he was well pleased with the likeness the young modeler rendered. From the start, Enoch Wood's model was widely acclaimed as the most realistic resemblance of Wesley ever produced. Wood placed a plaque behind each pottery version of the bust. The plaque on the example below reads "ThE REVD. JOHN WESLEY M.A. AGED 81."
​

As Wesley was 81 years old in 1784-85, we know the bust was made in that narrow period.  But what was Enoch Wood to do as Wesley aged? The answer seemed simple: adjust the age on the medallion. On the fabulous bust below, Wesley's age is given as 88.

Of course, mistakes happened along the way. Although Wesley died at the age of 87, more than one example of this bust notes his age as 88. Worse still, at least one instance of age 90 is documented! 

Wesley died in 1791, and sometime in the next few years Enoch Wood took another look at his bust. He was rightly pleased with the likeness, but two things bothered him:

• The gown looked flat because it had been modeled from the rather rumpled everyday gown that Wesley wore on his travels, and the gown's lack of artistry did not reflect the wearer's status.
• When Wesley sat for the bust, he had suggested that Enoch Wood  place a plaque on the reverse showing a very young John Wesley being saved from his father's burning house, along with the text  "Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?" 

In the 1790s, Wood still had no sketch of the burning house to use as a design source, but he wanted to at least elaborate on the text at the back of the bust and to improve the gown. So he reworked his model, keeping the face the same but changing the drapery and adding a medallion elaborating on the clergyman's life.

As you see the result is larger (approximately 12.5" rather than 11") and suitably impressive--but to my eye it lacks the humility and humanity that the original model oozed.

The back of the remodeled bust is enclosed and the inset medallion reads  "THE REV.D JOHN WESLEY M.A., DIED MAR 2, 1791, AGED 88. ENOCH WOOD SCULP., BURSLEM."  

One bothersome thing: Wesley was born in June 1703 and died in March 1791, so by my reckoning he was 87, not 88, at the time of his death.

Enoch Wood continued producing this model for many more decades. And as the years marched on and the figure potting industry expanded, other potters emulated the Wood bust because it  had set the "look."  To my eye, the standard seemed to go down hill, and you really, really have to be a Wesley enthusiast to find much merit in some of the later busts.  

This is the "Sherratt" pot bank's Wesley bust---nice enough but hardly "Sherratt's" finest piece of work.​

John Dale made the bust below in the 1820s, and it is far cry from the splendor of the early Wood busts. It is impressed behind "THE REV JOHN WESLEY M.A. BORN AT EPWORTH JUNE 17TH 1703 DIED MAR 1791 AGED 88" and "I. DALE BURSLEM " (Again,  the age is incorrect!)  Don't get me wrong: I am a great fan of Dale figures...but here he was out of his depth.

One of my many personal imperfections is my almost total inability to recognize a face. This is rather embarrassing at times. Yes, I am that idiot who will be introduced to you three times in the same day. On the other hand, if you had bocage leaves attached to you, I would remember you immediately! Strangely,  when it comes to figures, my recall is remarkably good.  One little figure group that I remember crossing my path several times in recent years is that below.

Hindsight is always 20:20, and, as I look at this group today, I ask myself whether the awkward positioning of the bocage should have raised a red flag. It is perched rather awkwardly, is it not?

Most importantly, the bocage on this group is an old bocage that, like the group, was made circa 1825. The problem is that the bocage was made by one pot bank (the Patriotic Group pot bank)  and the rest of the group was made by another (the Box Title Group pot bank). The two were united courtesy of a modern restorer. This is what the group should look like.  Much more balanced, don't you think?

I first spotted the problem group in the stock of a UK dealer. I pointed out my concerns. Sure enough, he had discerned a join where the bocage had been professionally attached, but he had assumed that the correct bocage had snapped off and had been put back into place. When he realized that this was not so, he disposed of the group at auction. Ah, if only all dealers were as selective, so insistent on only selling what they know to be right.

Auctions are not for the unwary. They are sometimes said to be the places dealers send their mistakes, but they are also the places that dealers make mistakes. Sure enough, another dealer bought the mismatched group, and I stumbled across it yet again at a show in the US. Again, I pointed out the issue. This time the dealer's response was not quite as heart warming. "Well," he said, "if someone asks me, I will say that the bocage has been reattached." Hmm....THE bocage or A bocage??? 

The mismatched group surfaced again in a US collection shared on FaceBook recently. Mismatched figures are really not that common, but they are common enough that you should buy your figures from a dealer who can help you avoid this trap. The first one I encountered was a Walton figure of an apostle, with a transplanted Sherratt bocage.  Similarly, you can see a "Sherratt" bocage on a cow of the type that "Sherratt" never made. On the left is the mismatched bovine; on the right is a correct example.

In the case of the elephant, the first red flag might be the very obvious difference between the flowers on the base and those on the bocage--but it is conceivable that flowers differ. Remember though that elephants of this sort all seem to have been made by Enoch Wood, while the bocage here is a form commonly used by Ralph Salt and other potters. Looking carefully at the back, you can see the fault line where the bocage has been attached--but the wrong bocage.

The elephant should correctly look more like one of these.

Truth be told, the elephant in the middle too has a transplanted bocage, but it is an  Enoch Wood bocage. The restoration was done ethically and responsibly.On a good note, the elephant with the incorrect transplanted bocage sold honestly  to a fully informed buyer, but transparency is the exception rather than the rule in these cases. That doesn't mean that the trade is necessarily dishonest. Rather, it means that dealers don't always know. 

I am always reluctant to let a reattached bocage influence my decision on attribution. Case in point is the cottage below.

The cottage below provided an important clue in unravelling the vexing cottage riddle. Importantly, it has  a diminutive "turquoise bocage" of the type that only "Sherratt" used, and indeed the base is in that turquoise palette "Sherratt" liked.