| Learn more about A Miscellany of Thimbles |
Build and share your knowledge about thimbles - new topics added regularly
THERE ARE 33 "LEARN MORE ABOUT..." TOPICS
Brass Advertising |
British Placenames |
British Royalty on Thimbles |
British Silversmiths |
Charles May |
Christmas |
Coalport
Dorcas Thimble Boxes |
Easter |
Gadgets |
Francesca |
Hallmarked Thimbles set |
Miscellaneous Thimbles |
'Mother'
The World's Greatest Porcelain Houses |
Royal Albert |
Royal Crown Derby |
Royal Doulton |
Royal Worcester Handpainted Thimbles
Royal Worcester Decal Thimbles |
S + H Foskett |
Silver Advertising Thimbles |
Spode |
Stratnoid |
SylvaC
Thimble Books |
Thimble Collectors Club |
Thimble Societies |
Thimbles with Slogans
Thimblefuls |
Victorian Silver Scenic Thimbles |
Wedgwood Jasperware |
Wedgwood Bone China
THERE ARE 21 PAGES OF THIMBLES & OTHER ITEMS TO BUY
aluminium 1 |
books 1 |
brass 1 |
china 6 |
display cases 1
needlework tools 2 |
other collectables 1 |
pewter 1 |
plastic 1
silver 3 |
steel & metal 1 |
unusual materials 1 |
wood 1
All of these smaller topics and themes or thimble manufacturers have always held a fascination for me - the high quality of Danish thimbles, the small Victorian thimble producers and unusual themes or well-crafted modern thimbles all appeal to me - I thought I'd share them with you. It is often difficult to find all the range produced, anywhere else, so they are gathered here for your enjoyment and I am sure there are many I have missed?
I plan to add small thimble maker topics to this page from time to time
BELLEEK |
BING & GRONDAHL |
CRUMMLES |
DORMON-BRAILSFORD |
HARRODS THIMBLES
CHARLES ILES' "THE" THIMBLES |
GEORG JENSEN |
MASON'S IRONSTONE |
MINTON |
POOLE POTTERY
ROYAL COPENHAGEN |
STERLINGS WITH GIRL'S NAMES |
KAY THETFORD-KENDALL |
THIMBLE CRAFT BY SHIRLEY |
GEORGE UNITE
| BELLEEK
IRELAND Anyone who has handled Belleek Pottery in any shape or form, will be intrigued by its transluceny and its distinctive cream colour, with the coloured decoration in relief. This translucent china is known as Parian ware. I was familliar with Belleek from Ireland as Mum always had a few lovely pieces displayed on her "what-not". So it was a short step for me on the one and only time I visited Ireland back in 1986, to search out thimbles made by Belleek. I knew they existed thru seeing early thimble advertisements - and their bluebells was my first Belleek thimble: the only Belleek one I found for sale in Eire!! Most thimbles made of china are very difficult to date but I am confident the start of Belleek thimbles would date to the early 1980s and would not have been made any time after that decade. Tho Belleek parianware was in production from 1863 [having been founded in 1857 in Belleek in County Fermanagh, in Northern Ireland], no thimbles were produced until the collectables thimbles era in the 1980s. Belleek thimbles were not featured in the 1980 Franklin Mint "Thimbles of the Worlds' Porcelain Houses" set of 25. Tho I have never seen one, I understand there is a Belleek thimble that forms part of the "The Hallmarked Thimbles of the World's Great Porcelain Houses" set of 50 produced by the Thimble Collectos Club in 1985 - but it only appeared in the USA-issued set. I would love to know what it looks like - so please share!! In late 1984 the Thimble Collectors Club [TCC] issued the Shamrocks thimble and it was the only Belleek thimble featured by the TCC for their members. I am aware of only eight thimble designs produced by Belleek - amongst which is their range of flowers with the flowers depicted in pale colours - which are handpainted and the Shamrocks pattern - often broadly described as clover. The names are mine not those from Belleek and are purely descriptive - if you know any different - please share! Has anyone ever seen a Belleek thimble featuring the Irish Harp? Donegal Parianware is not Belleek ware. |
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| BING & GRONDHAL PORCELAIN THIMBLES
COPENHAGEN DENMARK The most well-known thimbles from this Danish porcelain manufacturer, are the blue Christmas thimbles series, issued from 1978-1988. These were the first thimbles produced [see exception below] by Bing & Grondahl, tho they had been in production of porcelain items since 1853. Their first Christmas plates were produced in 1895 and are still in production today. The thimbles are not named inside the thimbles, but if you know the name B&G gave them, please share. One of the notable differences from most other porcelain thimbles, is that some of the B&G thimbles are made to be worn as jewellery - ie they have a sturdy gilt chain affixed to the apex - the only other that has this feature that I am aware of, is Noritake's thimbles. The Zodiac set is rarer and was probably made in small quantities? The Thimble Collectors Club [TCC] and their The Hallmarked Thimbles of the World's Great Porcelain Houses set [1985] commissioned B&G thimbles for their series in 1980. |
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| CRUMMLES ENAMEL THIMBLES
POOLE ENGLAND English enamel thimbles - mainly over copper or brass - have seem to be the 20th C's antiques of the future. Crummles - who were based in Poole in Dorset - has been incorporated into Staffordshire Enamels, in Lye, tho they still use the Crummles backstamp. They are known mostly for their enamelled boxes and they also produced needlecases and pincushions in matching designs. The owner, John Aris founded Crummles & Co in 1974 and he chose the name of Crummles, after Vincent Crummles, a character in Charles Dicken's novel Nicholas Nickleby. Strangely, Crummles don't often mark their thimbles with a backstamp and one has to rely on the accompanying cardboard thimble box for identification. The Thimble Society of London and the Dorset Thimble Society commissioned enamel thimbles from Crummles - the latter's do not have the regular metal apex and all of their examples contain the tiny Crummles backstamp. I have encountered very few Crummles thimbles - collectors, especially those who live in England, may be able to add to a more complete range of these little beauties? Some are handpainted, some will be a decal or transfer - this will be reflected in the backstamp, if one is present. Some incomplete examples have recently come up for sale - they are missing their brass or copper trims and therefore are incomplete - can I preseme that they have a Crummles backstamp to identify them as such? |
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| M I DORMON-BRAILSFORD SILVER THIMBLES
ENGLAND You may be familiar with the dome-shaped thimbles that appeared from this English silversmith, from Oxford? If so, you may not know that there are 4 with the same shape? They were all hallmarked by the London Assay Office, between 1981 and 1984. Michael Ivor Dormon-Brailsford is an inventor who created a series entitled Architectural Heritage thimbles, tho only 3 are architecturally shaped! The designs are formed in relief all round the thimbles, from the original hand-engraved casts. When the St Paul's thimbles were created in 1981, a percentage of the sales price went to the St. Paul's Cathedral Fund for its preservation. There is a 9ct version of the 1981 and gold-plated for the 1984 thimbles. |
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| "HARRODS" THIMBLES
ENGLAND Over the years, Harrods of Kensington London, have commissioned thimbles - for marketing or advertising purposes. They form a small, neat thematic collection. Most of these thimbles were produced for Harrods in the 1980s. Which other Department store has had as many commissioned? None in my collection came directly from Harrods - does anyone know from which Harrods Department they were available? Were they only ever made of china? Happiness is hearing of a silver thimble!! Some of the thimbles have the word 'Knightsbridge' lettered under "Harrods". The brand name is always identical, tho the distinctive 'H' is used in conjunction with the brand name. Since first listing these Harrods thimbles, imagine my delight to find that Harrods commissioned English silversmiths to creat sterling thimbles for them? |
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| CHARLES ILES "THE ..." THIMBLES
BIRMINGHAM ENGLAND I have always been interested in Charles Edward Iles's [1852-1925] base metal thimbles and none more so, than the named ones that include the intial word "The". I can't think of any other thimble maker who named a selection of his thimbles in this manner. All except one of these thimbles are lettered in italics. The most famous of these thimbles, commanding a huge sum, is "The Dorothy". Originally included as one of the "Five D..." thimbles [which included Dorcas, Dreema, Dura and Doris, but those are all steel-lined sterling silver thimbles], "The Dorothy" is only silver-cased. The other "The" thimbles may also be silver-cased or made of nickel silver. According to Norma Spicer in her book on Charles Iles, "The Dorothy" thimble was named after his daughter Dorothy, who was born in 1882. Most of the examples do not have the Charles Iles maker's mark, but a few do. What did these other terms/names stand for? Have I missed any others by Iles in this category? |
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| GEORG JENSEN STERLING SILVER THIMBLES
COPENHAGEN DENMARK This is the second Danish thimble maker to feature in this miscellany thimble topic - another highly collectable field. Georg Jensen [1866-1935] began his world-famous creations as a silversmith in 1904. These thimbles come from Georg Jensen designers who continue as silversmiths today. Some were available for purchase in the 1990s in Australia from Georg Jensen stores. Most Jensen thimbles have a backed stone apex in a variety of stones. These vary from green stones, to brown or red or amethyst. Most have a band of indentations directly below the stone. There are various art nouveau borders - leaves or tulips - in relief. As well as the maker's mark, the thimbles have "Sterling" or "925" plus "Denmark" and a numeral stamped into the thimbles - this number doesn't correspond to a size mark, rather it may be a design number? There is no dating system for sterling silver thimbles in Denmark, but some with the numbers, date from the 1940s. |
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| MASON'S IRONSTONE CHINA
ENGLAND The very first thimble that I ever purchased was one made by Mason's. This was back in 1983 and there was a treasure trove of collectables china for sale at Wayne's, in Benoni South Africa. It was a sad day for me when this store closed not long after. I had been attracted by the rust and navy colouring of the floral design. As far as I can find out, Johnson Bros were the only other manufacturers producing ironstone thimbles. Mason's history of ironstone production goes back a long way, to 1813 when Charles James Mason took out his patent. For most of the nineteenth century Mason's dinnerware was highly prized in their monochrome designs. They were based in Staffordshire, England. These sturdy thimbles featured in the 1980 the Franklin Mint's "Thimbles of the World's Greatest Porcelain Houses" of 25. Was this Mason's first thimble production as has been evidenced by other makers in the set? Strangely by the time of the "The Hallmarked Thimbles of the World's Great Porcelain Houses" set commissioned by the Thimble Collectors Club [TCC] in 1985, no Mason's thimble was included. TCC issued only one Mason's thimble for their members in 1987 - known as "Brocade". I can find no information on when Mason's finished making thimbles but it was probably in the 1980s. Mason's produced a few thematic thimbles - for Christmas, Easter, where some are dated but mostly are not - and a monochrome pair in brown on the occasion of the marriage of Charles and Diana in 1981. The Mason's thimbles featured below are not featured in any particular order. |
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| MINTON
ENGLAND When I created the Learn More About...Royal Doulton thimbles topic, I excluded the Minton thimbles as tho they have a Royal Doulton backstamp as well as the Minton one, I felt Minton thimbles needed their own separate topic!! In 1993, Lawleys by Post issued the first set of 12 thimbles for Minton's bicentenary. The set is called The Thomas Minton Archive Collection. Those who have Royal Doulton thimbles made after 1994, you will notice that these Minton thimbles are of the same shape. They are different from the RD thimbles tho as there are gold dots in a hexagon shape, on the apexes of the Minton thimbles, which is reminiscent of the thimbles issued by Royal Crown Derby. All three of these china manufacturers were under the Royal Doulton banner in the 1990s. The other two sets are known as The Minton Heritage Collection and The Pugin Collection. These are the only sets that have been issued with the Minton backstamp and all three have identical apexes I hope this topic will prove very useful to collectors of these sets - especially having the names - thank you to the two main contributors - you know who you are!! |
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The Thomas Minton Archive Collection Also known as the Bicentenary Collection 1993 This set was named for the firm's founder Thomas Minton In the advertising material promoting the issue of this set, Lawleys by Post advised that this was the first collection of Minton thimbles ever made Commissioned by Lawleys to commemorate the bicentenary of Minton 1793-1993 and inspired by designs from the Minton Archives, dating back 200 years The accompanying paperwork named the thimbles, but they are not named in the thimbles There was a small accompanying wooden plinth Set of 12 - fine bone china
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The Pugin Collection 1994 2nd set by Minton Decorated with designs created in the 1800s by Augustus Pugin, for Herbert Minton, the son of Minton’s founder Set of 12 - fine bone china Exclusive to Lawleys by Post Tho each thimble is named, this is not included within the thimbles Erroneously some of the Pugin designs were issued with the 1993 Bicentenary backstamp!! As if the sets aren't difficult enough to identify!!
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The Minton Heritage Collection 1994 Inspired by designs from the Minton Archives with the Minton backstamp Issued by Royal Doulton Thimbles are not named in the thimbles Set of 12 - fine bone china Hand-gilded in 22-carat gold Each set was supplied with its own numbered certificate and crushed-velvet presentation case Limited to 950 sets the dates included are from the original design
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Mysteries This Minton thimble doesn't match any of the other Minton designs It has the Bicentenary backstamp but probably meant for the Pugin set? It is most in keeping by its design than from the other two Minton sets? Why wasn't it discarded, if it was a prototype and then not included in the set? If this was the quality control in the 1990s, no wonder there are so many thimble anomalies in the Victorian and Edwardian thimble makers!!
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Thimbles of the World's Greatest Porcelain Houses 1980 This the first thimble produced by Minton It was designed as one in the set of 50 for Thimble Collectors Club entitled The Hallmarked Thimbles of the World's Great Porcelain Houses The shape of these thimbles is the older shape first used by Royal Doulton and it's the only time it was used for Minton thimbles
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| POOLE POTTERY
POOLE DORSET ENGLAND Have you ever had the opportunity to visit the Poole Pottery in Poole? It was such a happy experience back in 1973 to visit and to watch the artists at this pottery with the gorgeous handpainted pottery, set right on the quay at Poole. The internet suggests there are now 2 potteries operating - the original in Poole and another in Staffordshire - those in these areas may know? Once I became a thimble collector a decade later I was determined to find a Poole thimble for my collection. The thimble output is very small so it should be relatively easy for you to find their whole output? Two thimble designs featured in the monthly TCC club thimbles for their members - Country Berries and Seagulls: the latter dates from 1986. According to the accompanying leaflet Poole Pottery began in 1870 but their thimble range would only date to the 1980s. "The Hallmarked Thimbles of the World's Great Porcelain Houses" set of 50 issued by the Thimble Collectors Club in 1985, features the Poole Pottery dolphin logo for the Poole thimbles. One of my favourite issues is the monochrome blue one featuring Poole Quay. The thimbles are sturdy - a bit reminiscent of Coalport thimbles - and well made with no gilding and one could go far to find this quality in thimbles today. Some of the thimbles have a ridged self-pattern around the rim. |
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| ROYAL COPENHAGEN PORCELAIN THIMBLES
COPENHAGEN DENMARK This is my third and final favourite Danish thimble maker and their blue and white thimbles are amongst some of the finest and smallest collection of the Danish thimble producers. Royal Copenhagen thimbles do not carry the backstamp inside, as most other porcelain thimbles - they are featured on the verso of the thimble. The RC backstamp is made up of three wavy lines - these symbolise Denmark's main waterways to the Baltic - the Sound - The Great Belts - The Litle Belts - and these lines are surmounted by a crown. The scenes are named in Danish in italic lettering. Franklin Mint's Thimbles of the Worlds' Porcelain Houses [1980] and TCC's The Hallmarked Thimbles of the World's Great Porcelain Houses [1985] both commissioned Royal Copenhagen thimbles for their series. Sadly their thimbles were only made in the early 1980s. |
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| KAY THETFORD-KENDALL STERLING SILVER THIMBLES
ENGLAND This English silversmith designed and made her silver thimbles during the early 1980s, with a few new designs in the 1990s. The Thimble Society of London regularly stocked her thimbles - with moulded small animals around the thimbles with rounded apexes - from 1983 onwards. In 1998, they obtained for sale the last examples of Kay's collectable thimbles, as Kay had moved on to sculpting lifesize figures by then. Kay's maker's mark is DWK and it is registered at the London Assay Office. It seems that her husband Donald W Kendall registered the mark, hence the confusion and the first hallmarks were for 1982 and the last ones were for 1997. There seem to be some "ring-ins" - poor, cast copies of Kay's popular designs - the apexes are always flat and the maker's marks very indistinct or missing. These thimbles were being reproduced in Turkey in the 2000s - so look for very clear hallmarks to know you have a genuine DWK thimble!! Designs have changed over the decade but her themes recurred - I have tried to indicate the first year these were made. Some designs have indentations, others have elongated striped indentations. There were 2 commemoratives made by Kendall - in 1986. The names ascribed are mine alone and are purely descriptive. |
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| THIMBLE CRAFT BY SHIRLEY PORCELAIN THIMBLES
ENGLAND Thimbleselect was born in May 1987 and shortly afterwards I was contacted by Shirley Hewett to ask if I would be her South African thimble agent. As I knew we would be migrating to Australia later that year, I had to decline. By sheer serendipity I was visiting England shortly afterwards and was able to talk to Shirley and Martin - sadly there was no time for a visit to Essex to meet in person. By the time I had settled in Australia, there was another thimble agent for Shirley's thimbles in Australia. By that time I was very familiar with the porcelain thimbles from Thimble Craft by Shirley. Her thimbles were featured on a regular basis in The Thimble Collectors Guild - later known as The Thimble Guild - catalogues from The Thistle Mill in Scotland. My copies of the the Guild's catalogues only date back to 1986, but a recent check of their catalogues to late 1985, they were not being promoted by the Guild, so 1986 has to be her starting date. By 1993 thimbles from Shirley ceased - was that the end of her thimble production? Shirley and Martin Hewett were familiar faces to thimble collectors, as Shirley's thimbles were also sold by them at fairs in England. I have tried to feature thimbles from Thimble Craft in the order they were issued and any errors are mine alone. Her output was original and she never stopped experimenting and I know that I have only touched the tip of the iceberg!! Her thimbles appeared in the Guild catalogues for sale monthly during 1989, so that year would have been the zenith of production from this talented maker of thimbles for the collectables market. I have used the names used in the Guild catalogues - whether these were Shirley's or from the Guild, who knows? For most of the time that the Guild promoted Thimble Craft thimbles, they spelled her surname "Hewitt". It was only from June 1990 that her correctly spelled name of Hewett was used! This has led to many errors over the years. Shirley also produced thimble holders and the most commonly found shape was a shoe - this combined a pincushion into the heel of the shoe. Shirley's thimbles have sometimes been described as handpainted, but as far as I can ascertain, most of her designs were commercially available decals. As her expertise grew, Shirley created many novelty - fun - thimbles. A Google search reveals that Shirley and Martin Hewett now produce cufflinks and spoons using coins and operate under the name Coin Jewellers. They have been doing this for the past 15 years. If you have photos in colour to replace the black and white ones, I'd love to hear from you - or if you know the dates they were made - or any other info - please share! If you are a member of Thimble Collectors International please be sure to re-read Mave Wiskin's excellent article in the Spring 2009 issue of the TCI Bulletin. |
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References
Contributors Robert Bamforth | Jenny Scharff Bockel | Sue Burt | Ros Forster | Margaret Hickling | William Isbister | Ann Laibe | Pat Morris | Ray Nimmo | Wanda Ralston | Kellie Schultz | Norma Shattock | Jean Taylor | Marie-Ann Turnbull | Audrey Turner | Joanna Waciorski | Sue Wilson | Jan Worthen This listing of some of my favourite thimbles from various makers and from a range of countries does not purport to be complete or accurate in all aspects
Enjoy! © Sue Gowan
THERE ARE 33 "LEARN MORE ABOUT..." TOPICS
THERE ARE 21 PAGES OF THIMBLES & OTHER ITEMS TO BUY
Any questions or comments?
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