Miniatures - Craig's Cow Creamers

Miniatures

Where does one draw the line for miniatures? Well, doll-house size, 1/12 scale (or smaller) creamers clearly qualify. I’ve also chosen to place some slightly larger ones in this category, largely based on the fact that many of them seem too tiny to effectively serve as real creamers, at least for more than a skimpy serving for a very small person. And, this is a mixture of creamers and teapots.

Doll House (1/12 scale) : I have found two types of these; the first is ones made from china or porcelain, like this ‘tea set’ and the very similar but slightly larger separate ‘teapot’; their lids are the tops of their heads and horns. I have seen the set on eBay, but I bought mine from the very delightful Black Butterfly Shop on Royal Street in New Orleans in 2000. This shop is run by Myra Landry and her brother Norbert, the 3rd generation of their family to operate it. It survived Katrina, but according to a Washington Post article from their web page, business hasn’t been the same since. The separate cow came from the UK by eBay. I don’t know the maker of either of them.

The black and white and two blue and white creamers in the picture on the left, and the two other blue and white ones standing on the quarter, come from V&R Miniatures (http://vrminiatures.website.orange.co.uk/). This is the company of Vaughan and Rachel Williams, who themselves design and make a beautiful line of Staffordshire-inspired (like these creamers) and other porcelain doll house miniatures. They’re located in Bwlchygarreg, Pontdolgoch, Caersws, Powys, UK (quite a mouthful). They have a great web site, and do superb workmanship. The brown creamer on the quarter on the left came from Little Obsessions in Commak, NJ. Their web site seems a bit dated, but indicated that they sell doll house miniatures made by artisans from around the world; this cow is signed “SM” but with no other information.

Here are two more lovely doll house creamers from V&R. Rachel was kind enough to let me know when they came up for auction, and I was delighted to add a couple more of their superb miniatures to my collection.

These two high quality porcelain creamers came from a country fair in the UK in 1997. I foolishly didn’t get the name of the maker, but they’re signed “KCR”

Here’s one from France, made and signed by Valerie Anne Casson, a miniaturist for over 30 years. Her web site seems to be not working at the moment.

The little sitting cow with the daisies and golden eye came from the UK, but with no information on provenance. The little standing creamer in the package is, as the label says, from Dragonfly International, a “handcrafter of quality dollhouse miniature accessories…for the past 25 years” in Roseville, CA (www.dragonflyintl.com). It has a companion cow butterdish.

The second type of doll-house items are the ‘one-of a kind’ versions usually made of polymer clay. These examples come from multi-media artist Anne Galvin, who runs Elf-World Creations out of a studio-workshop in Sussex, England. These little guys all seem to be quite popular and draw nice prices on eBay. Others in my collection include …

these teapots by Loredona Tonetti (Lory’s OOAK) of Italy, and

the 2 on the left by Catherine Rohal (Keepsakes) of Ohio, and a pig-spouted Holstein teapot with a lamb handle by Ann Galvin.

The little creamer standing on George’s nose comes from Mandy Howarth of In the Magpie’s nest of Cumbria, UK, who sells a nice range of low prices doll-house items. The little teapot with spice jars is unidentified.

And here is the tiniest one of all, a cow pitcher from Pamela Scott of FL, just ¼ inch each way. We need to keep it glued down, or it would get blown away.

If you have already looked at the Silver cows you will have seen this one by Pete Acquisto of Albuquerque NM, a 1/12 Schuppe model in sterling silver. Yes, it is shown twice, but I didn’t want you to overlook it.

Like their bigger cousins, the miniatures are often used as souvenirs. Here are two advertising Jersey (the one on the left has “7128” impressed on the lower right so I believe it’s German porcelain), and one from Guernsey. Much too small to be useful, but as opposed to the 1/12 scale doll house ones they do really have two real holes.

The smaller of these two striding brown creamers measures 1¾x2¼, is stamped “Germany” on the belly, and has the impressed number 10950 on the lower right side. Much, much too small to be of any real use. The larger one which measures 2½x3½ is stamped “Japan”.

In this shot of four with a similar shape, the one on the left is again from Japan, the second German (5148), the third again most likely from Japan (and it has a price of $.59 marked on a hoof [don’t I wish!]), and the black one on the right is unmarked (and has a misshapen head, poor thing). I have heard these referred to as ‘salesmen’s samples’ as well as doll house toys…and as with many of my creamers, I have paid a wide range of prices for them (usually the most for the first example…); eBay has been somewhat helpful in determining what is and isn’t REALLY rare (although usually after the fact), in spite of how folks peddle things.

These two little porcelain cows with wide open mouths standing in grass up to their bellies are impressed with “21445 Germany” on the bottom.

Now we’re getting to creamers that are a bit larger yet. Still only a couple inches tall, but not at all designed for doll houses, best I can tell. Rather, just small creamers for those that like such things, including some souvenirs for the tourists with tiny suitcases (and common sense).

Here are many styles, all very small. They come from the US, Japan, and China. You may note I snuck in a red clay water buffalo (1st picture), and a pitcher (third, red head on the left), but the others are all legitimate and fully functional ‘cow creamers’.

This robust little guy is from Deruta, Italy. The web (www.derutaitaly.com ) informs us that “Deruta is a small town placed in the middle of Umbria, famous all over the world for its classical and modern ceramics. Its artistic tradition dates back to Etruscan period, but it is in the Renaissance that Deruta reached its artistic perfection.” The town seems to be most famous for its majolica ware. This interesting web site contains quite a bit about the history of the area, but alas says nothing about cow creamers. Maybe some plate-maker just had a bit of clay left over.

This lovely little cow on a stand that looks like a rock came (via eBay) from the UK. It doesn’t have any markings, but the quality of the pottery and the shape of the head and ears makes me think that it might be German.

These fanciful wild eyed creamers with front and back legs both glued together side to side are all from Japan, and probably date to the late 1940s or early 1950s. Lots of variations on essentially the same idea, and most likely from the same maker. Note that one of them has a souvenir decal, now somewhat obliterated.

Here’s yet another small early Japanese interpretation, basically all the same shape but with a variety of positions and colors.

This is about as far as I want to ‘stretch’ the miniature theme. Note please that several of these have been used as souvenirs – Italy, Spain, UK (you probably can’t read it but the white one lying down with the picture, which bears the mark of Gemma [a British specialist in crested china], is entitled “Scotch Fishwife”), and my favorite little Swiss creamer, which was also featured in the Ads & Souvenirs theme page. The two sitting up cream colored ones in the back right of the first shot are pretty definitely from the US – one sold as from Rio Hondo of El Monte, CA and the other possibly from Shawnee Pottery Company. Per usual, I’d appreciate help or confirmation.

And teapots are not to be left out…there’s a gradation in size across these three, but the one on the right, the farmer holding the milk bottle, wouldn’t have a chance of holding a regular sized tea bag, let alone any real tea. “Collectibles” I suppose. I do find using a cake as a spout rather interesting also.