Following on from my recent post about eBay Australia forcing its users to use PayPal, it seems that eBay’s users aren’t the only people who are unhappy about this decision.
eBay Australia is being investigated by the Australian Competition Commission to see if it is abusing its near-monopoly position in the online auction market to gain an unfair advantage in the online payments market (eBay owns PayPal).
If eBay get away with this in Australia, it seems highly likely they will extend the policy worldwide - we wait with baited breath…
More details here.
Some of the Snowman figurines and Snowman China made by Royal Doulton are highly collectable. I’ve just spotted the very rare Salt & Pepper shakers on eBay - one has the Lady Snowman on and the other has the gentleman Snowman. Quite simple in design but beautifully decorated this set can fetch considerable amounts.
The Snowman figurine collection by Royal Doulton was started in the mid 1980s with James, item DS1. He was designed by Doulton designer Harry Sales, modelled by David Lyttleton and in production from c1985 to c1993. He was accompanied by his friend The Snowman, model DS2, who then was transformed into a variety of characters including the Highland Snowman DS7, the Drummer Snowman DS15 and the Snowman Skiing DS21!
While many collectors like to have the full set of the Snowman figurines, especially the first version ones, some are often keen to include some of the china pieces such as the Salt & Pepper shakers.
I feel it’s always best to collect what you love rather than what you feel you should, it always makes collecting much more fun. So whatever your collecting choice, be it the Snowman figurines, the Snowman china or both(!) the decoration of all may be simple but the quality is just what you’d expect from Doulton.
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For anybody that missed this set of Snowman Salt & Pepper shakers I’ve just spotted another! This pair are described as being in excellent condition, with photographs shown of all sides including the base, which is always nice to see.
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eBay Australia will be banning all payment methods other than PayPal and cash on delivery from June 17th, it has emerged.
The changes are supposedly aimed at preventing fraudulent and problem transactions but have widely been seen as a way of generating more income for eBay, who own PayPal.
PayPal fees can add several percent to an auction price and are also charged on the cost of postage - netting eBay a nice extra source of revenue.
We’ll have to hope that similar changes aren’t rolled out in the UK, as both sellers and buyers are likely to be put off by the extra costs and the lack of choice to use a cheque, for example.
I know that cheque payment is still popular with our customers and we would not dream of removing this choice voluntarily. Even if such a ban were to come into force on eBay, we would certainly continue to accept cheques and postal orders for website sales.
You can read more about the changes here.
Just a quick note as I have spotted a great item on eBay. You don’t often come across these, it’s a PenDelfin Pixie House Plaque.
The Pixie House plaque was designed by PenDelfin founder Jean Walmsley Heap and only produced in the 1950s (c1953 to 1958). It’s around 8″ in size and shows a Pixie outside a house (funnily enough, hence its name!).
I do know that some PenDelfin collectors prefer to stick with just the animals (rabbits, dogs, squirrels, ducks!) and choose not to collect the more unusual in design items such as this and the other PenDelfin ornamental ware. However, I’m not one of those! PenDelfin produced such a wide range of things in its early days, I love to see the more unusal items.
It’ll be interesting to see what this fetches as it does have damage, but is very nicely signed on the reverse with the name, the PenDelfin Ware logo and Jean Walmsley Heap’s designed by mark. Having just been listed and already at £260 and over 9 days to go, it’s obviously caught the attention of some collectors already.
Happy bidding if you decide to go for it!
Being a keen collector of PenDelfin I’m always on the look out for good examples of pieces especially those that are slightly harder to come by nowadays. I noticed that a fairly good PenDelfin Cornish Prayer was listed on eBay yesterday (Wednesday 2nd April) on a 7-day auction.
Quite a few Cornys I have seen recently have been in really poor condition, he seems to have been prone to chip easily especially around the bed posts, but this example seems to have escaped any serious damage. Unfortunately he doesn’t have all his green felt although he does have his little script label which is nice and also his regular PenDelfin label.
The Cornish Prayer figure is quite small in size compared to what you would expect being only about 4″ long! He was designed by PenDelfin founder Jean Walmsley Heap and only in production for a short time in the 1960s (c1962-1965), so is quite sought after nowadays.
I’ve just spotted this Cyril Squirrel on eBay. Cyril is one of my favourite PenDelfin’s, he was designed by Doreen Noel Roberts and is quite large in size standing around 7″ tall so stands out amongst the rabbits. With him only being produced for such a short time, around 2 years from 1963 to 1965 he’s quite sought after nowadays.
This example doesn’t seem in too bad condition although he does have some paint flakes. It’s nice to see him with his original label and no big chips to his nose! I’ve seen quite a few with nose chips, I think it might be due to him standing quite tall and occasionally being knocked forward hence his nose bangs down and chips!
It’s always good to check condition with PenDelfin, they must be one of the few figurines that really are exceptionally easy to damage. Slight rubbing can result in paint flakes and knocking can easily end in chips or larger areas of paint flaking. Dungaree father and Thin Neck mother are famous for having been beheaded at some point!
At the moment Cyril is only £26 (bargain!) although he does have 4 days to go. As with all auctions the action is usually towards to the end, I expect he’ll rise quite some more!
The good thing about many collectables is that it’s possible with a little care to actually use them as well as display them. A good example of this is Whitefriars glass particularly the Geoffrey Baxter textured range. Geoffrey joined the glass factoy in the early 1950s and after much experimentation developed this popular Textured range.
First introduced in the late 1960s this range has become very popular with collectors, it’s bold colours, striking shapes and sturdy vases set it apart from many other glass wares. One of the most popular and stunning pieces is the Banjo. This is an extremely large (and VERY heavy!) vase first introduced around 1966. This vase can be seen in many colours including the ever popular Tangerine and Kingfisher blue, see a nice example currently on eBay here.
You don’t see a Banjo that often, and when you do it’s always a good idea to carefully check the edges and the textured area as these are the places that little nibbles can often be found. Also a good idea is to hold it up the light, this can give you a better look over it to help spot for cracks or water staining (be careful they are very heavy!).
Due to their size and popularity they aren’t the cheapest of Baxter’s textured range. On eBay currently are some of the equally collectable and often more affordable pieces from the textured range, including the ever popular Bricklayer, the TV vase and the far more affordable Bark vase.
I’d advise checking all in the same way, that way you can be sure of what your buying.
If you saw the Troika Love plaque that finished recently on eBay but your pockets weren’t quite deep enough then don’t despair Troika made a range of plaques some more affordable than others!
Equally attractive and more affordable the Troika Stove plaque and Calculator plaque are just as collectable and often more obtainable to many people. The Calculator plaque is roughly 12″ by 9″ in dimension, still quite a substantial size for a piece of Troika. With buttons that stick out, reminiscence of a calculator, this plaque has an altogether different feel to the flowing geographical design of the Love Plaque or the Thames plaque.
Often when one unusual piece appears on eBay it can start a mini trend for a while as people with similar items spot it and decide to list their pieces. Currently there is a rather nice (and in perfect condition!) Calculator plaque and funnily enough another equally sized Calculator plaque!
Both slightly different designs, and different artists it once again depends on your collecting angle. I find lots of people like to have one of each model regardless of the artist, however more and more people are collecting a particular artist’s work. Whichever your angle, these plaques certainly make striking additions to any collections!
Troika plaques and tiles were some of the first things to be made by Troika, hence why they are highly sought after, especially those in perfect condition (due to the size of some of the plaques they can often have firing cracks or small nibbles to the edges).
There were many different designs moulded onto the plaques, including the Calculator plaque (looks like a calculator!), the Thames plaque (appears to be the River Thames running through it!), and the Love Plaque that depicts three stages of Love - Love, Marriage and finally wife rules! The Love plaque is an extremely large piece of Troika, roughly 15″ long. You can see quite a nice example currently on eBay (and in perfect condition): Troika Love Plaque.
Made when Troika where still in St Ives most examples display a variation of the Troika St Ives pottery mark and often include the Trident mark and an artist’s signature.
Quite often you will see a BS or SB artist mark on the back. BS represents Troika founder Benny Sirota and SB is for Stella Banjamin who worked at the pottery in the early days from around 1963 to 1967. It’s tricky to tell these two apart as they can look so similar, looking at the way they have been written through an eyeglass can sometimes help.
The Troika pottery produced such a wide range of wares, it’s nice to see that people are finding the plaques as interesting as the other pieces, I certainly like them!
I often get requests from people asking if I know where they can acquire more greenery for their PenDelfin stands - it’s one of those things you never seem to have enough of. 
Apart from asking at your local PenDelfin stockist to see if they have any spare (you never know), it’s one of those things you don’t appear to be able to buy separately.
However, for anyone desiring a little more, I have just spotted this on eBay PenDelfin Trees.
Should help fill some of the many holes PenDelfin provide on their display stands!