Wade Whimsies

British furniture maker John Wade began producing products for the textile and wool spinning industries and manufacturing bottles for Staffordshire’s beer breweries in 1810.

In the 1950s, Wade began developing the now famous Wade Whimsies concept – undoubtedly the most famous and recognisable Wade pottery figures.

Introduced in 1954, the sets of animals, nursery rhyme figures, Disney character figures, miniature houses, and more proved immensely popular.

Figures such as the British Character set, consisting of the Pearly King and Queen, a Lawyer and a Fishmonger, were soon followed by the popular Noddy set, which included Noddy, Big Ears, Mrs Fluffycat, and PC Plod; the Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Classics whimsies – featuring characters like Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and Mr Jinks; and Walt Disney characters from the movie Sword in the Stone, including Madam Mim, Archimedes the Owl and Merlin as a caterpillar, turtle and hare.

The 1960s saw the addition of Lady and the Tramp and Bambi characters to the Walt Disney whimsies range.

Although not intrinsically valuable, Whimsies are still highly sought after by collectors around the world.

FOOTNOTE:
NatWest Bank commissioned Wade to produce a series of pottery piggy banks in the 1980s. This range of ‘NatWest Pigs’ quickly became another of the company’s most popular and collectable ranges. The original range of five comprised Sir Nathanial, Maxwell, Woody, Annabel and Lady Hilary.

A limited edition 5,000-piece run of a sixth pig, Cousin Wesley, was produced in 1998, and further gold limited editions of 250 Woody (in 2006), 400 Annabel (2007) and 400 Maxwell pigs (2008) were subsequently produced.