Tom King and Dick Turpin
This is a fine pair of Staffordshire figures of Tom King and Dick Turpin, probably originating from a theatrical production. Note the four separately moulded legs on each horse. Each figure stands about 12” tall and dates to approximately 1850.
King and Turpin, the infamous Highwaymen, lived in the early 1700s, but numerous theatrical plays in the mid 1800s dramatised their lives and brought these figures to life. Gordon Pugh shows the pair in the “Crime” section (pages 471 and 472) of his “Staffordshire Portrait Figures” book, and describes them as rare and attractive. In Harding Book One, Victorian Staffordshire Figures, page 264, the pair is described as “The finest pair of Turpin and King figures produced by the potteries”. Many Staffordshire figures of Turpin and King on horseback were made over a period of twenty years or so, thereby exemplifying the popularity of the story.
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.
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