Seated huebach

1st quality bulldog figurines are mainly ceramic or porcelain as its  more commonly known. this new way of making items started its life in china hence why we use the term fine china, but the word porcelain comes from an old Italian dialect and was called porcellena which in English means cowrie shell and porcelain resembled the shells colour and adopted the name.

Ok so I’m not going way back to 200ad when porcelain was first invented I’m going to talk about what I have picked up over the years so far.

1st quality pieces are factory perfect with no chips cracks flaws or any problems with any of the pieces patina or pattern hand painted or otherwise, there are a few exceptions if the piece dates to before 1900 due to age whom made it etc. but would still lose slight value if selling, but depends on piece this would only include tiny chips unseen restoration or minor wear to any paintwork on the piece.

If buying figurines to build a collection for investment purposes these are the pieces to look for but if your collecting for the love of it you can still have an amazing collection by choosing quality second ceramic bulldog figurines.

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Factory seconds are pieces that even though flawed after making are still put out into the consumer market and a great example of this is some of the pieces made at the Royal Doulton factory in the 30s, certain pieces were designed to have a cigar coming out of the bulldogs mouth but sometimes this piece fell off whilst in the kiln being fired and even though this happened they were still glazed over and sold to the consumer market.

Seconds normally have small flaws chips minor cracks and imperfect paintwork most have a cross through the stamp yet I’m still to find out how unmarked pieces are rated but that’s what research is for, collecting seconds is a great way of obtaining a stunning collection at a fraction of the cost and most pieces would still display well and make for a stunning cabinet.

I myself have bought seconds in the past as some pieces just cannot be found anymore or in short supply with a big demand, half the reason for so much loss in all ceramic fields is down to wars from centuries gone by right up to the early 1900s.

There are still many pieces out there I’m yet to discover and find pieces out of the blue that I have never heard of before and that’s half the fun.

My oldest ceramic piece is a little Japanese piece painted nearly 200 years ago it has a baby like face and the reason for its rarity is the style of pattern used.

So remember no matter your budget with the right knowledge and research you can have amazing cabinets with shelves full of beautiful English bulldog figurines…