Cock fighter groups are most commonly of the type below: a couple with their cockerels before a bocage and mounted on a rather plain base.
Courtesy Elinor Penna
Of course, we all far prefer thinking this is a pleasing farmyard tableau, with the couple contentedly feeding their chickens...but I have recorded an example titled Cock-Fighters, so I must concede that the animals in question are probably fighting game cocks. That doesn't mar my enjoyment of a nice example though. But the truth is that most examples are like the one above (attributed to Dudson) and are rather drab. There are exceptions though, and, of course, the exceptions are the ones that we collectors covet. I love this example, formerly in the stock of John Howard, because the colors are so pleasing and her hat is just divine.
| Note that this group was made without a heavy square base. Also, the bocage leaves are one-sided. That's my clumsy way of saying that each leaf has not been placed back-to-back with another. |  |
The cock fighters group below is also rather gorgeous because it stands on a particularly colorful pink base. Such a pity that it has lost its bocage though, but when intact it must have been an eyeful.
Image (c) Sotheby's.
Just added to John Howard's web site is the dazzlingly colorful example on a black marbled base (below), which I suspect emanated from the same pot bank as the.group on the pink base. Outstanding is it not? A picture is worth more than my words, so look for yourselves.
I remain forever intrigued by a cock fighting group in the Willett Collection. A third figure, that of a bird nesting boy, has been added. Why? I do not know! The boy is original to the group so perhaps the potter was a little confused that day or, perhaps it was made on a Monday, the day when many potteries workers were hungover.
If a cock fighting group is on your holiday gift list, the beauty on the black marbled base currently with John Howard is the one to buy. It's so easy to collect if money is no object, but in reality we all have to collect within our means, so I pose a theoretical question: if you could choose between the first example on the square white base and the group on colorful pink base, which would you pick? I must admit I prefer the latter. Despite its imperfections, it oozes charm. But neither group is as pretty as that on the black marbled base. In my years and years of talking to collectors, I have learned that what they buy is not always what they can afford. Admittedly, some of us overspend because collecting truly is an addiction. But many of us underspend because we have a mental price barrier. Buying 3 mediocre figures for $500 is not a problem....but one lovely figure for $900 illicits gasps of horror. If you want a great collection, buy less but buy better--make that your collecting resolution for 2105.
