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Francesca ... introduction

OTHER BRANDS - ARTONE - CROFT CHINA - HARLEQUIN DESIGN STUDIO - HARMER SCULPTURES - HEALACRAFT - PERENNIS
STAFFORDSHIRE FINE CERAMICS - SUTHERLAND CHINA - THEODORE PAUL - THIMBLE COLLECTORS SOCIETY
TONY WOOD STUDIO - UNITED ARTISTS - VICTORIA CHINA - WOOD POTTERS

  Artone Pottery  
Made in Burslem, England

The backstamp is derived from an artist's palette with the words 'Hand painted Artone - England' across it

  Artone  
Actors and Characters

The Beadle from "Oliver Twist"	Clarke Gable	Humphrey Bogart BUY THIS THIMBLE	John Wayne
Mae West	Marilyn Munroe	Ronald Reagan	Sherlock Holmes

  Artone  
US

Eagle

Eisenhower

Lincoln

Washington

  Artone  
Clowns

Happy Harry

Sad Sam

Smiley Stan

  Croft China  
England

Guard

  Harlequin Design Studio  

Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora Macdonald

Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton

Prince Charles and Lady Diana

Robin Hood and Maid Marion

Romeo and Juliet

Other Harlequin thimbles known to have been produced

Charles Wesley Friar Tuck

  Harmer Sculptures  
These thimbles were only produced in the 1980s as Harmer died in the 1980s

  Alice in Wonderland series  

This set are also made in Staffordshire, England and are of bone china.
They tend to be quite tall, with the Carpenter being 45mm.
The chief characters seem to be covered with this set of twelve

BUY THIMBLES FROM THIS SET

Alice	Carpenter	Caterpillar	Cheshire Cat	Dormouse	Hands of Cards
King of Hearts	Mad Hatter	March Hare	Queen of Hearts	Walrus	White rabbit

  Harmer Sculptures  
Dickens characters

Artful Dodger [--Oliver Twist--]	Bill Sykes [--Oliver Twist--]	David Copperfield [--David Copperfield--]	Fagin [--Oliver Twist--]
Marley's Ghost [--A Christmas Carol--]	Miss Haversham [--Great Expectations--]	Mr Bumble [--Oliver Twist--]	Mr Cheeryble [--Nicholas Nickleby--]
Mr Micawber [--David Copperfield--]	Mr Pickwick [--The Pickwick Papers--]	Oliver Twist [--Oliver Twist--]	Scrooge [--A Christmas Carol--]

  Harmer Sculptures  
Flowers

Bluebell

Crocus

Daffodil

Foxglove

Snowdrop

Tulip

  Harmer Sculptures  
Clowns
Like the Francesca thimbles - where the Dickens character moulds were "re-used" and painted as clowns - so Harmer followed and these clowns resemble some of the Harmer Dickensian character thimbles - can you match them? I understand that these thimbles are not marked with the maker's name

  Harmer Sculptures  
others

Mrs Santa

Santa

Healacraft
  Robin Hood series  

English made and bone china. This seems a complete set of six characters.

a. Friar Tuck b. Little John c. Robin Hood d. King John e. Maid Marion f. Will Scarlet

Perennis
  The Charles Dickens Character Thimbles  

These Dickens characters were all produced with © 1983 and are English made.
Are these Dickens characters the only ones made by Perennis?
There is one more Perennis Dickens character [30] than Francesca [29]: but there aren't many of overlapping characters!
The Perennis thimble boxes do not have their name on, just Staffordshire where they were made.
Some confusion is occurring as Perennis released some Dickens characters with the incorrect name inside. Examples are given as a link. Poor quality control!!
There are examples appearing in monochrome - a pale gingery colour. See these by clicking on the link.

Artful Dodger [--Oliver Twist--]	Bill Sykes [--Oliver Twist--] monochrome version incorrectly named version	Bob Crachet [--a Christmas Carol--]	Captain Cuttle [--Dombey and Son--]	David Copperfield [--David Copperfield--]
Ebenezer Scrooge [--A Christmas Carol--]	Fagin [--Olier Twist--]	Fanny Squeers [--Nicholas Nickleby--]	Inspector Bucket [--Bleak House--] colour variety version	Little Nell [--The Old Curiosity Shop--]
Madame DeFarge [--A Tale of Two Cities--]	Marley's Ghost [--A Christmas Carol--]	Miss Haversham [--Great Expectations--]	Mr Micawber [--David Copperfield--]	Mr Pickwick [--The Pickwick Papers--]
Mrs Mantalini [--Nicholas Nickleby--]	Mrs Bardell [--The Pickwick Papers--]	Mr Bumble [--Oliver Twist--]	Newman Noggs [--Nicholas Nickleby--] incorrectly named version and as Newman Moggs!	Oliver Twist [--Oliver Twist--]
Pip [--Great Expectations--]	Quilp [--The Old Curiosity Shop--]	Sally Brass [--The Curiosity Shop--]	Sam Weller [--The Pickwick Papers--]	Sarah Gamp [--Martin Chuzzlewit--]
Silas Wegg [--Our Mutual Friend--]	Sydney Carton [--A Tale of Two Cities--]	Tiny Tim [--A Christmas Carol--] monochrome version	Uriah Heep [--David Copperfield--] colour variety version	Wackford Squeers [--Nicholas Nickleby--] incorrectly named version

  Staffordshire Fine Ceramics  
Charles Dickens Collection

Charles Dickens

Bill Sykes [--Oliver Twist--]	Bux Fux [--The Pickwick Papers--]	David Copperfield [--David Copperfield--]	Fagin [--Oliver Twist--]
Inspector Bucket [--Bleak House--]	Little Nell [--The Old Curiosity Shop--]	Madame Defarge [--A Tale of Two Cities<--]	Mr Micawber [--David Copperfield--]
Mr Pickwick [--The Pickwick Papers--]	Oliver Twist [--Oliver Twist--]	Sairey Gamp [--Martin Chuzzlewit--]	Scrooge [--A Christmas Carol--]

  Staffordshire Fine Ceramics  
Other Characters

Pope John Paul II

Queen Elizabeth I

William Shakespeare

Winston Churchill

  Sutherland China  

Sutherland China are well-known thimble makers.
This set would be a small part of their production as they are mainly known for their thimble-shaped production.
There are characters duplicated from the Francesca series. When Francesca closed in the late 1980s, Sutherland purchased their moulds
using the following and destroying the rest!

There are an increasing number of glazed white character heads appearing from Sutherland. Are these seconds or just unpainted stock that is surfacing onto the market? Maybe the Francesca moulds weren't destroyed after all? These Sutherland thimbles are all backstamped with the characters' names inside - maybe this is how Sutherland wanted to sell them - for collectors who preferred the glazed look, without the handpainted detail!
It would seem that they never created new character heads of their own! How wrong could I be?
There is a new set that no other manufacturer has had before - the current Royal Family. They too are unpainted. I wonder if a painted set exists?

Abraham Lincoln unpainted version	American bald eagle unpainted version	Anne Hathaway	Artful Dodger [--Oliver Twist--]	Bach unpainted version
Beethoven unpainted version	Charles II unpainted version	Cleopatra	David Copperfield [--David Copperfield--]	Desdemona
Elizabeth I	George Washington unpainted hatted version	George Washington unpainted unhatted version	Good King Wenceslas unpainted version	Huck Finn unpainted version
Josephine unpainted version	Juliet unpainted version	Lady MacBeth	MacBeth	Mark Antony
Mark Twain unpainted version	Mary Queen of Scots unpainted version	Mr Pickwick [--The Pickwick Papers--]	Mozart unpainted version	Napoleon unpainted version
Nelson unpainted version	Othello	Pope John Paul II unpainted version	Queen Victoria	Romeo unpainted version
Schubert unpainted version	Shakespeare	Sir Francis Drake	Statue of Liberty unpainted uncrowned version	Theodore Roosevelt unpainted version

Thomas Jefferson unpainted version

Tiny Tim [--A Christmas Carol--]

Tom Sawyer unpainted version

Walter Raleigh

  Sutherland China  
Current Royal Family
the Queen Mother is larger than the first four thimbles shown

Prince Charles

Princess Diana

Prince Philip

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

  Theodore Paul  

Abraham Lincoln

Sherlock Holmes

Queen Victoria

Thimble Collectors Society
English made and bone china

Lady Hamilton

Lord Nelson

  Tony Wood Studio  

These were sold by The Thimble Guild in 1987 as a set of 12 - like Toby jugs in shape, with the opening at the top.
The original toby jugs of the 18th century made by Ralph Wood jnr form the basis for this set of thumbles.
Similar designs may be seen under Wood Potters
Tony Wood is the ninth generation direct descendent of Ralph Wood.
The thimbles are made of pottery and are usually they are unnamed.
4950 sets were made and they are handpainted, dated and signed according to the advertisement.

backstamp

Collier

Dr Johnson

Falstaff

Gamekeeper

The Haymaker

Lord Howe 1st Lord of the Admiralty

The Lover

The Musician

The Shepherd

The Shepherdess

The Thin Man

  United Artists  
USA
Distributed by Royal Orleans

Inspector Clouseau

Pink Panther

  Victoria China  
Cats

The Victoria China thimbles are also English made and are of bone china.
These ones differ from Francesca thimbles, in that their finish is matt.
The cats often resemble each other in shape, but the colouring is so different that the cats are easily identifiable.

Black and white cat

Black cat

Blue Persian

Siamese chocolate point

Other cats known to have been produced

White cat Marmalade or tabby cat Siamese blue point Siamese seal point White Persian

  Victoria China  
Dogs

This listing is getting more complete, but one rarely sees the full set nowadays.
BUY ONE OF THESE DOGS

Alsatian

Border Collie

Dachshund

Yorkshire terrier

Staffordshire and Brindle Bull Terriers	Cardigan and Pembroke Corgis	Golden and Black Labradors
Cocker Spaniels	King Charles Cavalier Spaniels	Jack Russell and Fox Terriers

Other dogs known to have been produced

Cairn terrier Doberman - black and tan Doberman - chocolate

  Victoria China  
Owls

The Victoria China owls are immensely popular with owl collectors as their owls are so realistic, using the matt colours found in nature.

Barn owl Eagle owl Little owl Short-eared owl Snow owl Tawny owl Tengmalms Owl

  Wood Potters of Burslem  

These were sold by the Thimble Guild, in late 1991.
They are made of pottery and follow the shape of the 18th century Toby Jugs.
Wood Potters of Burslem is a continuation of the line of Wood Family potters.
Similar designs may be seen under Tony Wood.

Betsy Toby

Toby Philpot

  Wood Potters of Burslem  
Miniature Classics

"In the 18th century Ralph Wood created the 'Toby Jug'. From his original designs, twelve miniature pieces have been recreated in the 1992 edition of Traditional Toby Thumbles ........ Wood Potters of Burslem ....... Slipcast and handpainted collectors treasures for you" -- excerpt from Thimble Guild catalogue

Ralph Wood ['Toby Jug' creater]	The Clerk	Earl Howe	Falstaff	Gamekeeper	Haymaker
Hearty Goodfellow	The Lover	Martha Gunn	The Musician	Old Age	Toby Philpot

  Wood Potters of Burslem  
Toby Jug Thumble Collection

  Wood Potters of Burslem  
Dickens Characters

Selection of most popular and familiar characters
including Uriah Heap, Oliver Twist, Pip and Ebenezer Scrooge

Any questions or comments?
thimbleselect@bigpond.com

Last updated 26 September 2008

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