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Wade |
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 George Wade & Sons was started in the early 1800's and was one
of several potteries run by the Wade family, amongst them Wade &
Co., Albert J Wade Ltd. and Wade & Son. Various amalgamations
took place until 1927 when Wade, Heath & Co. was formed. Over
the years several potteries co-existed and in 1958 Wade Potteries
and George Wade & Son merged and in 1989 became Wade Ceramics
Limited following a management buyout. Over
the years the Wade potteries have produced considerable amounts
of famous tableware, decorative items and collectables, amongst
them many piggy banks. The three below are from a collection called 'Smiling
Pig' and were made between 1955 and c.1960. It is not commonly known
that these pigs come in two different sizes.
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The
‘Paws at the Kerb’ piggy bank to the left is one of the
rarer Wade pieces and was produced around 1955 and is not often seen
offered for sale. The mould is the same as the larger sized ‘Smiling
Pig’ and the transfer prints on the pig were taken from a poster,
designed by an 11 year old schoolgirl, that won a competition to promote
Road Safety in the early 1950s.
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Wade produced another
series of piggy banks, called "Priscilla the Pig". They are
all from the same mould but she has been produced in a variety of
colours and guises, some of which are illustrated in the photographs
to either side. |
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The two pink
"Priscillas" shown here were produced in limited numbers
for the Bristol & West Building Society and Barclays Bank respectively.The
Bristol & West pig was produced sometime after mid-1993 and
B&W say only 500 were made, but we have seen claims of documents
that state 1368 were made. What an odd number!! The Barclays Pricilla
was issued in 1998 and 5000 were made. |
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The 'Britannia' piggy
banks, shown to the left, were made for the Britannia Building Society
in another limited production and were based on a promotional hot
air balloon called "Piggles".
They were made at two different times, 1999 and 2002 and the models
are different in various respects - eyebrows, slot sizes, colour
etc. Initially only 1000 of these pigs have been made for presentation
to suitable charities and for school raffles etc. The intention
is to produce more pigs as and when demand requires it. |
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And just to prove that Wade are still committed to their piggy
banks, to the left is one of their later additions. Certainly
modernistic and quite a change from their more traditional items.
He made his first appearance in late 2002 and has to be a boy,
as he couldn't possibly be a girl with those looks! We
have already seen one with a building society name on it, which
Wade say is a fraud and not made by them - so be warned!
Below are the very latest set of piggy banks, totalling six in
number. They are made in pink and blue in small,medium and large
sizes. They were introduced early in 2004 are are as traditional
as a piggy bank comes.
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FAKES
- There are not many known fakes of the normal Wade pigs but
the red piggy bank shown here is stamped 'Wade Ireland' and is
a fake. It's blue twin has no Wade markings. With the Wade
NatWest piggy banks it is a different story!
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