Perfect Pieces Specialists in British Pottery

I have just spotted a PenDelfin Cyril Squirrel on eBay. Cyril Squirrel was designed by Doreen Noel Roberts and only produced for around two years from c1963-1965.

I always advise people to be careful when buying off eBay. Be sure to ask the seller any questions before you bid and check out the photographs properly. It’s all to easy to be disappointed when you receive something that isn’t as good as you were expecting, and quite often it can be prevented beforehand.

So it’s nice to see this seller has included plenty of photographs of Cyril. They illustrate that he isn’t in perfect condition (far from it!) but it gives a clear indication of all the little bangs, nicks and paint flakes that he has so you can judge quite clearly how much to pay for him.

This month’s Antiques Info magazine includes a feature article on the current state of the PenDelfin market - along with a full three pages of captioned photographs! You may recognise a few of these photographs - they were all provided by Perfect Pieces.

The article itself was written by the other half of Perfect Pieces, Roland Head, and is well worth a read for anyone interested in building a worthwhile collection of PenDelfin figurines.

This issue also has the first of a series of articles about collecting, written by the magazine’s editor, John Ainsley. This makes interesting reading for anyone who is just starting out in the world of antiques, or who is interested in improving the quality and value of their collection.

The PenDelfin article is in the May/June issue of Antiques Info magazine and it’s in newsagents now.

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!

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!

For enthusiastic PenDelfin collectors and dealers from all over the UK (and further), the annual PenDelfin Auction has long been a keenly-anticipated and enjoyable event. Organised by Stella Ashbrook (the author of the definitive PenDelfin Collector’s Handbook), the auctions have always provided a chance to view and buy some of the rarest and most interesting pieces of PenDelfin, as well as to meet other like-minded collectors.

We attended last year’s PenDelfin auction, at Chester - you can see pictures of some of the pieces that were for sale here. The sale was attended by PenDelfin founder Jean Walmsley Heap and seemed quite successful.

However, this year there is not going to be a PenDelfin Auction, according to a message posted by Stella Ashbrook on the PenDelfin Collectables Message Board. According to Stella’s message, there will be a selection of PenDelfin for sale at Byrnes Auctioneers in Chester on 16th April, but no full-scale auction.

Now I’m even more glad we went last year! Hopefully the auction will resume in 2009, but I won’t be holding my breath, as the sale and subsequent offshoring of the factory means that the company doesn’t have the same kind of presence in the UK that it once had - nor the quality output, sad to say.

In the meantime, here’s an example of the kind of piece we saw at last year’s auction - and have seldom seen anywhere else (For more PenDelfin, click here to see our selection of PenDelfin for sale):

The 21st April saw the annual Stella Ashbrook (Pendelfin Collector’s Handbook author) PenDelfin auction, this year in Chester and featuring a fair mixture of old, new, rare and unique PenDelfin, as well as some of Jean Walmsley Heap’s own pre-PenDelfin artwork.

Jean (JWH) was there, as were a reasonable number of enthusiastic collectors and dealers, although perhaps not so many as in years gone by.

Although there were quite a few older pieces, for me, one of the surprises and highlights of the sale was this piece:

This is the original 1953 PenDelfin Fairy Plaque – the second piece of PenDelfin ever to be made. The plaque was the result of much hard work by Jeannie Todd and JWH in Jeannie’s kitchen – as described
and pictured on page 16 of The Pendelfin Story, by Jean Walmsley Heap. The hammer eventually came down at £1900, which didn’t seem excessive for a unique, early piece like this.

An added attraction was its provenance - JWH’s personal collection - and the fact it was signed by Jean as well.

We were able to get a few photos of some of the more unusual pieces, so here is a taster if you weren’t able to make it on the day:

This unusual Juliet plaque went for bottom estimate at £300 and had an unusual silver label (see the Pendelfin section of our pottery marks guide)

A rare Metallion Flying Witch Plaque, from the late Doreen Noel Robert’s personal collection (as were many of the more unusual pieces). The hammer came down at £160 on this one.

Another one from DNR’s collection - a bit worn, but one of the rarest characters around - Cyril Squirrel. £380 hammer price.

Doreen’s own rare Rheingold Lamp Base, in reasonable condition with just a few paint flakes, this fetched a handsome £700.

Some of Jean Walmsley Heap’s original paintings - these for the Tommy Tweet series of children’s stories.

All hammer prices were subject to a 20% premium.

All in all, it was an enjoyable day out, and it was encouraging to see the enthusiasim of the collectors who were present - while many of them were of slightly more mature years (hmm), there were some younger buyers too! Here’s looking forward to next year’s sale.

April’s newsletter has just gone live on the main site - follow the link on the menu bar above or click here to read about some rare Pendelfin we’ve recently acquired and to get another chance to see our illustrated guide to packaging pottery. We also take a brief look at two potteries which both ceased to exist as we know them last year - Pendelfin & Poole Pottery.

As always, any comments are more than welcome - just leave them below or click here to email us.

One of Pendelfin’s leading designers, Doreen Roberts, has died, aged 77. She first met Pendelfin founder Jean Walmsley Heap through the Burnley Art Society, which she joined in the late 1940s. Doreen subsequently joined the Pendelfin team and was responsible for many memorable rabbit designs, including Jingle, Muncher and Phumf.

Doreen was also responsible for many of the Pendelfin display stands, including Castle Tavern, the highly collectable Christmas Scene (only made for one year) and Cobble Cottage.

Doreen Noel Roberts continued to work at Pendelfin right up until the company’s sale in March 2006, when UK production of the rabbits ceased and the company’s Burnley premises closed.