"Sherratt" figures are so delightfully quirky that the trade is quick to apply a "Sherratt" lable where possible...and it can help boost price. Problem is that most of the trade aren't sure what is "Sherratt." Remember to read the Hodkinsons' book if you want to know all the details. At the back of the book is a list of all known "Sherratt" figures. NOT on that list is a tithe pig group. And I can confirm that I have never seen a Sherratt tithe pig. So I was amused to read the following in the May Maine Antiques Digest, page 38C, from a report on the Chester County Antique Show:
The Tithe Pig, a figure group with a clergyman who expected a pig and got a baby, was $1750 from ***** of Glyndon, Maryland. It had an old Sotheby's sticker dated 1939. It was probably made by Obadiah Sherratt, known for his use of turquoise and oak leaves in the bocage.
Wrong, wrong, wrong! Firstly, "Sherratt" is not known for the use of turquoise. Lots of potters used that color. Secondly, 'Sherratt" figures use triple-oak leaf bocages, not found on figures from other sources; the standard oak leaf is, however, found on varying other figures. Third, we cannot definitively say that Obadiah Sherratt made a single figure, but the figures we believe to have been made by some potter who may just have been Sherratt, should be tagged "Sherratt".
The report includes a poor picture of what just may be an Enoch Wood tithe pig. Hard to say with half the bocage cut off. I can't leave you with a nice "Sherratt" tithe pig to peruse because there isn't one. So instead enjoy this beautiful "Sherratt" pearlware figure symbolizing the season of Spring.
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