I have wanted a performing animal troupe for a long time--and to me The Real Thing requires no food. It's pearlware of course. Why haven't I bought one sooner? Well, firstly, they are very thin on the ground. And secondly, I am too picky. To me it is essential that ALL the figures on the group be original. I can tolerate repair and restoration to the group, but not a whole made up figure. The first group that made the cut came up about a decade ago.
Lovely, but it didn't quite pass muster. There were restorations to the figures, minor as best I recall. That was not the problem. I just didn't like the bocage. It was sparse, more trunk than leaves. And the leaf tips looked nibbled and restored, which they were. If I had known then what I know now about the rarity of these groups, I might have succumbed. But I didn't. So the long wait began.
I will admit, as best I recall, nothing more came to market in the next ten years. And the groups I saw in collections were either missing figures or had nasty restoration. Here the dog and monkey and bear have been significantly/totally restored and I suspect there is restoration to the other figures and bocage. Just kills the group for me.
I will admit, as best I recall, nothing more came to market in the next ten years. And the groups I saw in collections were either missing figures or had nasty restoration. Here the dog and monkey and bear have been significantly/totally restored and I suspect there is restoration to the other figures and bocage. Just kills the group for me.
The best things are worth waiting for, and at last this group came my way. To see it is enough. I don't need to own it. Just great to know of a good example out there.
Now isn't that much nicer? Can you seen the vitality in the original modeling? Love the monkey. The only restoration here is to the tip of the stick the bear holds and to enamel flaking.
Of course, at the other end of the 'collecting' extreme is this abomination, available most any day on eBay.
Of course, at the other end of the 'collecting' extreme is this abomination, available most any day on eBay.
Touted as "Staffordshire", these groups are not English. They are Asian. Repro is too kind a description. These figures are modern junk. A picture is worth a thousand words, so look at the pictures and note the features that pinpoint their status: the crudest of modeling, minimal detailing, and ghastly color palettes.
