Figure of the month

Milk maid at work

December 2017

This apparently unique figure group, circa 1825, portrays a once-common sight in parks and on street corners across Britain. In the era before refrigeration, milk cows had to be located within quick reach of consumers. As the French-born American merchant Louis Simond tells in his journal in 1811, in London women bearing milk pails went door to door dispensing a quota of milk that was “as big as an egg, being the allowance of a family; for it is necessary to explain, that milk is not here either food or drink, but a tincture,— an elixir exhibited in drops, five or six at most, in a cup of tea, morning and evening.”

More Figures of the month

Sir William John Codrington

April 2026

This is a rare figure of Sir William John Codrington.  He was a British army officer who eventually became a general and then Commander in Chief of British forces in the Crimean War. 

Tam O’Shanter and Souter Johnny

March 2026

This is a rare pair of early figures of Tam O’Shanter and Souter Johnny, characters in the Robert Burns play “Tam O’Shanter”, written in 1790.

A pair of giraffes

February 2026

This is a fine pair of Staffordshire giraffes, seated below palm trees, each approximately 5 ½” tall.  These figures are very rare, dating to approximately 1850. 

Old Age

January 2026

This is a fine pair of early Staffordshire figures portraying “Old Age”. They stand about 8 ¾” tall and date to about 1820. 

A pair of pointers

December 2025

This is a rare pair of Staffordshire foxhounds, pointers, or game dogs. Whatever one decides to call them, they are an unusual and very fine pair.

Reverand Edward Meyrick Goulburn

November 2025

This is a rare Staffordshire figure of the Reverand Edward Goulburn, standing approximately 11 1/2” tall and dating to about 1860.

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