Sand and Beesums
The Victorian potter was good at making models of all kinds… royalty, politicians, criminals and animals, and also models depicting scenes of every day life. The figures entitled “Sand” and “Beesums” are just such models and show travelling salespeople who would probably go from town to town and village to village selling sand and beesums to the peasant or worker’s wife. Nearly all houses in Victorian times would have had hard floors of either earth, stone flags or wood. These floors may have been dressed with sawdust or straw. The floors got very dirty and soiled so the housewife would have scattered sand on the grimy surface to help abrase the dirt and then bush it away with a broom called a beesum.
More Figures of the month
Father Theobald Mathew
This is a very rare figure of Father Theobald Mathew administering the Temperance Pledge of abstinence.
French Soldier and English Sailor
This is a rare Crimean War figure of a French soldier and an English sailor, standing to either side of a gun emplacement.
Queen Victoria
This is a very rare, regal figure, possibly representing Queen Victoria at her coronation. It is unrecorded and no source painting has been located. It stands about 14” tall and, if it is Victoria at her coronation, would date to about 1838. If a pair to this figure ever surfaces, it would probably be Albert, […]
Ralph and Kate Nickleby
This is a very rare and fine pair of Staffordshire figures representing figures from Charles Dickens’ novel “Nicholas Nickleby”, published approximately 1838-39.
Sir William John Codrington
This is a rare figure of Sir William John Codrington. He was a British army officer who eventually became a general and then Commander in Chief of British forces in the Crimean War.
Tam O’Shanter and Souter Johnny
This is a rare pair of early figures of Tam O’Shanter and Souter Johnny, characters in the Robert Burns play “Tam O’Shanter”, written in 1790.
Membership
We warmly welcome new members – join us for free!
Wherever you are in the world, whether you are an experienced collector, a researcher interested in the folk art of England, or just someone who is intrigued by Staffordshire figures, please join us and get the rest of this year for free! Stay with us next year and pay an annual fee of £45 / $50 per household in January.
