Staffordshire - not just a great part of England
A generic term for slip cast pottery very popular in the late 18th century through to the 1960s .
So slip cast , what that ? Think double cream , pure white china clay made into a slurry and then poured into a cast mould of 2 pieces, the slip sloshed around to cover and then one dried , moulds removed , fired in oven and then painted and glazed .
Early pieces by Josiah wood and Obadiah Sherrat tended more china pottery pushed into a mould only later on in the 19th century did they become bigger and lighted in weight.
Another anomaly is that a lot of so called Staffordshire pottery was made in portabella in Scotland, but Staffordshire is the accepted name for good produced as stated .
There are many ways to tell reproductions from antiques all antiques items will have a small hole in back or bottom to let steam out when firing , often literally just poked into the wet pottery , newer ones tend to have large holes to speed up the firing , also new ones tend to have unglazed bases as again speed up the process as older glazed bottom took longer to handle , lastly the quality of the paint especially the faces and hair .
In the late 1990 Staffordshire was romping away in price , it since fell hugely falling out of fashion , well good news , we have lots and its really selling well again all be it at a lower price but that is good as makes it more fun and affordable to collect , great statement items , good decoration even make great lamp etc.
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