Beatrix Potter Beswick Figurines. Tales from a country antique shop. A long time ago . . in a galaxy far far away . . Had a phone call from a gentleman called Fred who was cleaning out his aunt's house. The trouble was, his wife was giving him a hand!The reason for the call was that they'd found 'some rabbits' amongst his aunt's bits and pieces. It took me a few minutes to work out if they were of the furry variety or the easier to keep pottery sort. Well his wife was a keen TV fan - especially of the lunchtime 'buy cheap and sell expensive' type of antique/collectable programmes. She was convinced that they'd stumbled on a fortune with the rabbits because they were EXACTLY the same thing that had fetched top money only the other day on TV while she was having her soup and sandwiches.

Our telephone conversation continued like this. Fred remember, was on the other end of the phone talking to me, but having to listen to his wife's advice with his spare ear. "It's a rabbit with a blue coat and there are marks on its bottom"A few further questions ascertained that the marks were on the base of the pottery figure. "Are the marks in brown or gold?" I asked"Yes" replied Fred. I could tell it was going to be an uphill struggle!"I really need to know just which colour" I continued "Well it's difficult to tell in this light - it's sort of a browny gold"Next sound I could just hear was Fred's wife saying, tell her it's like the one on the telly on Tuesday lunchtime. "It's OK Fred, I heard that, but it doesn't really help. Any possibility of slipping them into the shop so we can pinpoint the date accurately""Yes I'll bring them in tomorrow, but could you just let me know what they're worth today"Bless him, he wasn't giving in!!

This happens all the time and sometimes it's fairly easy to give a rough estimate over the phone, but in this case, almost impossible. As you've guessed, the rabbits were Beswick's Beatrix Potter range

and the one in question was Peter RabbitSo now we've got the make and the specific item, but still a few problems. So how can individual figures be identified and valued quickly?Well . . . . Beatrix Potter published several books about animals her first being The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902. Royal Doulton was founded in 1815 and already specialising in figurative sculpture. Miss Potter approached the Lambeth studio in 1908 with a view to having her own animals produced in ceramic. An earlier contract with another company made any arrangement with Doulton impossible and it was not until 1948, sadly after Miss Potter's death, that the Beatrix Potter figures were finally produced by the John Beswick factory. This arrangement continued successfully until the late 1960's when Ewart Beswick was ready to retire but had no heir. The Royal Doulton group acquired the Beswick factory in 1969 and when the modeller Albert Hallam retired in 1975, Graham Tongue became the head modeller at the Beswick studio and added many new characters to the range in the 1980's. Beatrix Potter figures have become highly collectable and so far, the 1990's has seen Graham Tongue develop the Beatrix Potter collection for the 100th birthday of Peter Rabbit in 1994. 1997 saw yet more celebrations as Beatrix Potter figures had been in continuous production for Beswick for 50 years. 19 figures were withdrawn in 1997 making more than 60 retired figures for collectors to find. Quite a task and getting more difficult each year so how does one handle this situation . . . . . The quick and dirty way is to visit:

http://www. architus. com/beatrixpotterfigurines. html

There you will find the rest of this article with the associated photos and graphics explaining the various marks used by Beswick.

Happy Collecting. We run a small but beautifully formed General Antiques Shop which is situated in Kirkby Lonsdale In the Yorkshire Dales/Cumbria Border. Lots of Collectables, Antiques and witty banter.

Author:
Joy Pearson