When I was in the UK last, television informed me that America is inflicting yet another wrong on the world: the American gray squirrel is displacing Britain’s cherished red squirrel. Apparently, red squirrels, believed to have been in Britain since the Ice Age, are now almost extinct. Initially the US gray squirrel was thought to be to blame because it bred for longer and more frequently than its British counterpart, but the truth is now out: deadly squirrel pox spread by the American squirrel is causing the demise of its British cousin. Should Americans have one more item on their Guilt List? I feel no great American Shame. Rather, the Englishman who enslaved poor gray squirrels in 1876 and shipped them across the Atlantic to his Cheshire estate should be tossing in his grave.
Apparently the plight of the red squirrel coupled with a plethora of grays, has prompted a change in British cuisine. The NY Times reports that squirrel is now gracing British dining tables. In the austere era following WW2, attempts to promote squirrel as the new red meat failed. But now political correctness has achieved what a call to patriotic duty could not. People are chomping on squirrel—I must remind you that it is, after all, a rodent--because they feel good about helping the environment.
Apparently the plight of the red squirrel coupled with a plethora of grays, has prompted a change in British cuisine. The NY Times reports that squirrel is now gracing British dining tables. In the austere era following WW2, attempts to promote squirrel as the new red meat failed. But now political correctness has achieved what a call to patriotic duty could not. People are chomping on squirrel—I must remind you that it is, after all, a rodent--because they feel good about helping the environment.
The English red squirrel alongside its grey cousin.
So what does this have to do with Staffordshire figures? Well, of course we see early 19th century figures fashioned as squirrels. Such Staffordshire figures are quite rare. Significantly, they always portray the red squirrel, because that is the only squirrel England knew prior to 1876.
The squirrel model I most commonly see touted as "early" is a look-alike of the Derby porcelain squirrel. Frankly, I am seldom confident that this little beast is indeed pre-Victorian. The body is always just a little too white for my taste.
Currently in John Howard’s stock is a pair of early squirrels—trust John to find not one, but a pair!—that is indeed early. I have never seen another example of this model. At only 4” high, they are lovely little things, with an unusual bocage form. And, the squirrels are definitely red.
Rare pair of pearlware squirrels from the stock of John Howard.
John also has a single early squirrel in stock, again red of course, and again I have never seen another like it.
Rare pearlware squirrel from the stock of John Howard.
So enjoy looking at John's squirrels while they last, and if you like squirrels buy these…but please don’t think of the squirrel at your bird feeder as a culinary delicacy.
