Look at this sweet little archer--little is the word because off the top of my head I think the figure is about 6". The bocage flowers have seven petals. This on its own is no big deal. Other forms of bocage flowers also have seven petals...but these are special. Their form exactly matches those on shards found in a 1972 excavation of a former Woolworth's store in High Street, Tunstall. Some of the shards have distinctive features that enable us to identify extant figures from the same source. I can speculate about the identity of the potter who potted at Tunstall, but I do now know. So I simply call the figures that link to the Tunstall shards "Tunstall figures.
This little archer has both bocage leaves and flowers that match those found among the Tunstall shards, so she is a "Tunstall" figure.
Last week I looked at a figure of a classical lady. She was on a typical Enoch Wood base, but the bocage was of a sort that links to "Tunstall." The figure had passed through a leading UK auction house, which had noted that the bocage had been reattached. This sounds innocuous enough. Reattachment has minimal impact on value....as long as it is reattachment of what was originally there. In this case, a "Tunstall" bocage was attached to an Enoch Wood figure.
As I work through my pictures, I see some pretty ghastly forms of restoration. Reattachments of wrong things happen again and again. So knowing what your figure should have on it is truly invaluable. Look at pictures of other examples and compare. If there is a little dog, is it the correct form? The devil is really in the details.
Let's end with a gorgeous "Tunstall" pair of cows, formerly in the stock of John Howard.