Ed Pascoe on the figures of the 1930s
When the Depression came, nobody was buying Royal Doulton's big prestige vases. Rather than lose its finest painters, the company moved them onto figurines. Ed Pascoe has handled Royal Doulton since he was a teenager, and his eye goes straight to the faces: from 1930 to 1938, he says, they are the most beautiful Royal Doulton ever painted.
Many figures are dated 1939 at the latest. After that the backstamp changed, and the exact year a figurine was made can no longer be read. Here are the figures Ed holds in the film, with others first made in that decade.
"I had trained my eye to look. Look at the painting, look at the beautiful colors. Look at how the piece is modeled." Ed Pascoe
Rosamund, Priscilla, Margot and The Bride, the figures Ed holds as he tells the story.
Leslie Harradine ladies introduced in the years Ed means, with the year each one first appeared.
Margot, a very rare color
SoldIntroduced 1938Wedding Morning HN1866
SoldIntroduced 1937Miranda HN1819
SoldIntroduced 1938Verena HN1835
SoldIntroduced 1939Kate Hardcastle HN1919
SoldIntroduced 1936Romany Sue HN1758
SoldIntroduced 1939Midsummer Noon HN1900
SoldIntroduced 1931Lady Clare HN1465
SoldIntroduced 1936Eleanore HN1754
