Quimper
Tin glazed earthenware, or faience as it is known, was made at the potteries in France from the 17th century and, by the middle of the 19th century, Quimper was one of the few places in France where it was still produced. Quimper pottery is particularly well known for the basic landscape decoration and depiction of Breton peasants, painted in soft colours with single brush strokes resulting in designs which were unique to each piece of pottery.

Rye
Pottery has been produced in Rye since medieaval times but what is now known as Rye Pottery wa started at Cadborough towards the end of the eighteenth century. This was eventually taken over by the Bellevue Pottery in Rye, East Sussex which had various names and fortunes over the following years until it was re-opened by the Cole brothers in 1947 as the Rye Pottery. It has produced a wide range of items including tableware and ornaments and, more recently, a large variety of hand painted figures for which it is now famous. The method of production used today is still based on the original ‘delftware’ technique, originated in the 17th century and the freehand brush decoration gives a typical soft colouration with the result that no two pieces of pottery are ever identical. The pottery trained many apprentices, most of whom left to set up their own studios in and around Rye. The most famous of them was undoubtedly David Sharp who went on to create a great following amongst collectors.

Surrey Ceramics
Surrey Ceramics is the registered company name of the Grayshott Pottery near Godalming, Surrey. The pottery has its origins in the Compton Pottery which was established by Mary Watts near Guildford in Surrey at the turn of the last century. In 1956 Surrey Ceramics was formed in new premises at Sandhills in Surrey and, following further growth, the final move was made to Grayshott in 1967. Today the Grayshott Pottery is thriving and produces everything from catering stoneware to fine porcelain items including a famous range of decorative porcelain clocks.

Sylvac
SylvaC was the trade name for pottery produced by the firm of Shaw & Copestake Ltd which was originally the Sheaf Art Pottery Co., founded by William Shaw in 1894 at the Sylvan Works in Longton, Staffordshire. There followed a long association with the Falcon Pottery whereby both produced each others lines under their own names. Much of the output of Shaw & Copestake had been produced with unusual glazes among which were black cellulose and low-fired matt glazes. From 1936 these Shaw & Copestake figures and ornamental wares were produced under the SylvaC name.

Following the voluntary liquidation of Shaw and Copestake (SylvaC) in 1982, the pottery was run by a workers co-operative trading under the name of Longton Ceramics. Eighteen months later the enterprise was fully taken over and run under the name of Crown Winsor. This was not a successful venture and only lasted a short period before another liquidation and in 1989 Portmeirion Potteries (Holdings) plc purchased the Crown Winsor site. Note that there is no 'd' in Winsor!

Crown Winsor continued to produce some of the original SylvaC models as with the pensive little pink piggy bank, below left, who has the "Crown Winsor England" mark. The original with the "SylvaC Made in England" mark can be seen below right.

Wedgwood
A very special name known throughout the world, was started in 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood and today its reputation continues. The numerous Wedgwood companies in the Wedgwood Group merged with Waterford Glass in 1989 and now trades under the name of the Waterford-Wedgwood Group. This is the only piggy bank we have seen with the name of Wedgwood and it is a direct result of the acquisition of Mason's Ironstone China Ltd in 1968 and its traditional piggy banks. A fairly rare piggy bank.

The lower of the two photographs is manufactured for Ralph Lauren and is called "Farmstead Ticking" and carries a date of 1999. It is from the same mould as all the Mason's piggy banks and the Wedgewood pig above, however the date would suggest that it must have been produced by Wedgwood. Not a very common piggy bank and very collectable.

Tony Wood