The Late Dennis Silk Collection of Staffordshire Figures will be offered for auction on November 12, 2021. This comprehensive collection, gathered over 50 years, includes several rare pieces. It also recognises some of the best-known characters from the Victorian era, from royalty and naval commanders to notorious murderers.
Here Gillian Finney, Hansons’ Connoisseur Ceramics Consultant, highlights five important lots in the 261-strong collection.
Lot 4 | England’s first balloonist
The great and good are celebrated in this Staffordshire figures collection which includes many rare examples. One of them is this depiction of James Sadler, circa 1848. Sadler (1753-1828) was the first English balloonist, as well as a chemist and pastry chef. This man of many skills made his mark on Victorian society and thereby became worthy of celebration in porcelain form. £100-150
Lot 19 | Princess Royal and a goat!
Royalty is a key theme in Staffordshire Victorian figures. They were hugely important then, as now, and people liked to have these famous figures on display in their homes. A pretty example is this rare figure of The Princess Royal being pulled in a cart by a goat, circa 1845. £100-150
Lot 104 | A man named Christmas
I keep using the word rare but this figure of Christmas Evans, circa 1850, is particularly so. Christmas Evans (1766-1838) was a famous non-conformist Baptist preacher from Wales. He was a leading light in the Baptist movement. You can still find his sermons online today. £300-£400
Lot 112 | The Murderer
Notoriety comes to the fore in this figure of James B Rush, circa 1849. James Bloomfield Rush, born 1800, was executed on April 21, 1849. A crowd of between 12,000 and 20,000 witnessed the event with a special excursion train laid on from London. How entertainment has changed!
Rush, a tenant farmer in Norwich, owed his landlord, Isaac Jermy, a giant sum of £5,000. As the payment deadline approached in November 1848, Rush shot Jermy and his son Isaac dead on the porch of their Stanfield Hall home. He also shot Jermy Jr’s pregnant wife and Eliza Chestney, her serving maid, but both survived.
Jermy was embroiled in a dispute about ownership of the estate, and Rush hoped the rival claimants would be blamed for his murder. He wore a wig and false whiskers to disguise himself as he shot the family. Unfortunately, Rush’s girlfriend Emily Sandford, declined to co-operate in court and, despite vigorous efforts to defend himself, Rush was hanged at Norwich Castle. £300-500
Lot 155 | Double hanging
Meet Marie Manning, a woman captured for posterity in Staffordshire porcelain, circa 1849. Manning (née de Roux; 1821-1849) was a Swiss domestic servant who was hanged on the roof of London’s Horsemonger Lane Gaol on 13 November 1849, after she and her husband were convicted of the murder of her lover, Patrick O’Connor, in the case that became known as the “Bermondsey Horror”. It was the first time a husband and a wife had been executed together in England since 1700. £200-300
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