A Few Pence of Fun
By Bob Brooke

 

fairing last in bed to put out the light300.jpg (270103 bytes)Summer in England is a time for country fairs. During the 19th century, country fairs were the biggest event of the year. Everyone, especially working class people, went to them. A housemaid often gave pride of place to a colorful figure ornament known as a fairing, as a treasured memento of a rare day off at the local fair. While these fairs were originally agricultural gatherings where people came to purchase livestock and domestic items, eventually, they evolved into the fun fairs of today.

Fairings were very popular from 1860 until just after the death of Queen Victoria. And during second half of the 19th century, people attending these fairs would purchase or receive as prizes cheap little porcelain figures called fairings. These sold for a few pence to folks to adorn their cottage mantelpieces. A fairing became a treasured memento of a fun-filled day. But by the end of the 19th century, fairings could more likely be found for sale in shops than as prizes at a fair.

Fairings depicted a variety of scenes, either domestic, humorous, or political. In fact, much of their charm lay in their British humor which was often a bit crude. They shared a cast of characters with music-hall skits and Edwardian saucy postcards. Buxom matrons, hapless youths, innocent and not-so-innocent maidens, outraged fathers, henpecked or erring husbands, nervous newly-weds, old lechers and swaying drunkards were all grist to the comic mill.

fairing oysters300.jpg (161703 bytes)The figures ranged from three to five inches tall and usually stood on a base on which a caption appeared in black or red copperplate script describing the scene or making some point about the figure. Although the majority of fairings were simply decorative, some took the form of useful objects like pinboxes, matchstrikers, or holders for watches or small mirrors. Though most fairings showed one figure doing something, some came in pairs, for example two separate figures a small boy and girl, each dressed in adults' clothing.

Serious collectors actively seek genuine fairings. In the United Kingdom they can range in price from a few pounds for the more common ones, such as "Last in bed to put out the light" to several hundred pounds for the rarer ones. The ones collectors seek most are the five fairings in the Vienna series, which contain no captions but do have a gold band around the base. As with any antique, the value of a fairing depends on its condition and whether a seller offers a fairing as a single unit or together with its partner, should it be paired.

The German potteries were technologically advanced and were able to produce the small brightly colored, gilded fairings cheaply for the mass market. Conta and Boehme, of Possneck, Saxony, Germany, produced the first fairings. This company developed a mass production method that no other company could match, so it had an advantage over other firms. The company manufactured their fairings of solid soft paste porcelain, while their competitors made hollow models, which tended to be less well finished and painted. German dominance meant that the trade in fairings ended at the start of World War I.

Fairing Subjects

fairing stop your tickling jock300.jpg (258161 bytes)The subject matter that inspired fairings varies widely and provides an interesting insight into popular British culture of the Victorian era. Popular songs and music hall numbers inspire some of them, such as "Jenny Jones and Ned Morgan" and "Champagne Charlie is my name." Others commemorate notable people such as the "Ladies of Llangollen"—relating to the scandalous affair of Lady Eleanor Butler and Lady Sarah Ponsonby—or buildings such as "The Model of Laxey," the Laxey Wheel on the Isle of Mann, the largest metal water wheel in the world. The captions on some fairings are a little more obscure, such as "How's business?" on one fairing and "Slack!" on its companion, inspired by the same design on drinking cups of that time.

Beds feature heavily in the domestic scenes, so much so that people began to call fairings as "bedpieces." The captions on these fairings often indicate a cynical attitude to marriage, for example "When a man is married his troubles begin" on a fairing showing a man nursing a crying baby. Another shows a man cowering from his wife with the caption "Home from the club he fears the storm." Many, on the other hand, are simply charming, for example "God Save the Queen," depicting a family singing while gathered round a piano, or "Which is prettiest?" depicting three beautiful little girls. Some captions are politically inspired, such as "English neutrality 1870 Attending the sick and the wounded", commemorating the fact that Britain didn’t become involved in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Others are moralistic, such as "Seeing him home," showing a drunk being escorted home by a spirit and the grim reaper, both dressed as undertakers.

Occasionally fairings descend into the downright crude, such as "The early bird catches the worm", in which a goose pecks at what it thinks is a worm, only to cause pain to a young lad who is relieving himself. Another one is "Review" in which two lecherous men admire a scantily clad woman emerging from bathing.

Fairings featured a variety of characters from maidens to couples to newlyweds to drunks and figures of fun. While manufacturers produced some more serious fairings, the majority were light hearted. Towards the turn of the century, fairing subject matter began to shift towards more sentimental scenes.

Collecting Fairings

fairing trinket box300.jpg (333973 bytes)Collecting fairings can be fun, but prices range from modest to downright expensive. It all depends on where a collector buys them. For instance, collectors who scour local antique fairs in England may find fairings for a few dollars. Some of those same fairings can sell for three figures at high-end antiques shows in the U.S. However, the Internet has provided sales opportunities that can provide some good examples for modest prices.

The value of a fairing depends largely on its rarity. Though makers produced lots of them, they were cheap and cheerful ornaments, not meant to be treasured, so people threw many of them away when they got broken. Small repairs don’t necessarily reduce a fairing’s value. Most of the charm of fairings is in their folksy appeal, and do-it-yourself mending sometimes enhances this.

Over the years, collectors have generally classified fairings into seven categories. Category A contains the most common fairings, while categories from B to F include increasingly rare fairings. The rarest and most valuable can be found in the X category.

trio of fairings300.jpg (154996 bytes)So how do collectors date their fairings? Conta & Boehme began to number their pieces early on. At first, the firm scratched the numbers into the base. Later on they embossed them. Numbers ran from 2850 to 2899 and from 3300 to 3385. Earlier pieces from this company had no mark, but did have the four-digit numbers incised on the base. By the 1840s, they adopted a mark of a crooked shield holding a dagger. Fairings from 1850 to 1860 were generally larger than later ones. If a fairing depicts a scene with a rider on a bicycle, then it’s from after 1867. Fairings made after 1890 usually have the shield mark printed, as well as the phrase "Made in Germany." Also, these same fairings are usually brighter and more colorful.

By far, the most collectable fairings are those made by Conta & Boehme, but their caption script must be readable. Earlier pieces tend to be better, as the pieces lost definition with wear and tear on the molds.

PHOTO CAPTIONS (from top to bottom)

Fairing of "Last in bed to put out the light.
Fairing of "Oysters."
Fairing of "Stop your tickling jock."
Fairing trinket box.
Trio of Victorian fairings.

As an avid collector of a variety of antiques and collectibles for the last 20 years, Bob Brooke knows what he’s writing about. Besides writing about antiques, Brooke has also sold at flea markets and worked in an antique shop, so he knows the business side too. His articles have appeared in many antiques and consumer publications, including British Heritage, Antique Week, Southeastern Antiquing and Collecting Magazine, www.OldandSold.com, and many others. To read more of his work, visit his main website at www.bobbrooke.com or his specialty antiques site at www.theantiquesalmanac.com


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