COLLECTORLINKS - ALWAYS ON THE LOOK OUT 
FOR WHAT OTHERS ARE LOOKING FOR
Antiques and vintage collectables can make nicer-than-new gifts

The item

Antique Staffordshire pottery figurines give us an interesting and colourful insight into social history because they were primarily designed for the new Victorian middle and working classes as affordable household ornaments and are often in the form of so-called flat backs intended to stand on mantlepieces.

This young woman, possibly a gardener, is standing by a well-laden grape vine it's a lovely authentic example of Staffordshire. It has a naive charm in the way it is quite crudely fashioned and hand-painted and although the rear side of the figurine isn't technically flat, it's flatter than one would expect; it's also undecorated so presumably intended for the mantlepiece.

There is no manufacturer's mark on the base, which is normal, but the base carries an unusual brown spiral decoration. It's in the same brown used elsewhere on the figurine so we think it was an initiative by the painter to cover up a tiny "blow hole" at the centre of the spiral, which is often left in the concave base of Staffordshire pieces to allow steam to escape from the firing process

Condition

The heyday of this genre of Staffordshire pottery was between 1850 and 1870 so it's reasonable to assume that the figurine is around 160 years old. Remarkably, it is has survived without chips. All we notice is a small hairline crack in the bend of the girl's arm; and there may be missing specs of paint here and there although they are more likely to be tiny areas missed by the decorator's brush. Please see the images. 

Pricing

Whenever possible our asking prices are based on either our knowledge of the genre or on what similar pieces have actually been sold for on the international market, rather than what some sellers are asking, which are usually two very different things! In this case we have tried to balance the antique rarity of the figurine against what collectors are currently prepared to pay so as to offer it to buyers at a fair and competitive asking price.

You will normally find that our prices sit somewhere in the middle between auction and professional dealer prices and we are always willing to consider realistic offers.

Shipping

We have a 100pc success rate for over a decade of successfully shipping fragile ceramics and glassware across the UK and the wider World. We now insist on 'signed for' services because of the current unreliability of some so called 'tracked and delivered' services.

We only charge what the Post Office and couriers charge us. 

International shipping? Since Covid, we have started to use eBay's Global Shipping Programme because it has proved to be competitive and reliable. It also takes care of the international paperwork, which is helpful for buyers and sellers at a time when international tariffs keep changing.

WE ALWAYS TRY TO HAVE AN INTERESTING RANGE OF ANTIQUES 
AND COLLECTIBLES IN OUR EBAY STORE AT... 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/collectorlink11

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