Modern Variations

Stylized though these may be, they are also very American.  They are handmade stoneware from the Bennington Potteries of Vermont, and date to @ the 1960s.  From their web site we learn that Bennington Potteries was founded in 1948 by a young potter named David Gill.  Although pottery had been a major industry in the area since the late 1700s (see the Bennington theme…), it had started to die out around the time of WWI, and was nearly defunct by the time David Gill started his pottery.  With the increased interest in handicrafts in the 60’s and 70’s it grew considerably, and is now a tourist destination as well as a thriving business.

Next, moving from New England back to England.  Here’s another 2007 version of the Emma Bridgewater creamer (see Brands), this one in the Holly and Ivy pattern.  As I noted before, I fail to understand why this company makes these to be unusable for food.  Nobody else seems to have that penchant.

And here are the other two in the series, the Black Toast (stamped “Toast and Marmalade”), and Polka Dot patterns.  Poor Ms Polka Dot wins the prize for the longest travel time.  I bought her on 15 June and she arrived (safe and sound but with a crushed box) on 30 August. 

Here are Emma’s Ms Polka Dot and Pink Hearts on stands.  From what the seller said,
these were fashioned as trials before they decided to go with the base-less ones
as parts of their china pattern sets.  Interestingly, they don’t have the ‘unusable
for food’ warning.  So does the stand make a difference?  Or were these the ones
that led to the warning?

These two are one-of a kind versions that were made for the Emma Bridgewater Collector’s Club day and sale … the one on the left is in the ‘Kitchen Garden’ pattern, the one on the right (the 2008 version) “Men at Work”.   Not surprisingly, it’s my only cow that has trucks all over it.

These four are 'chased' to resemble hair; they are from identical molds, but different paint. As you can see they come in two sizes - 'pint' and 'half-pint'. They are quite brittle and not well protected in their original boxes and I've had real trouble getting them in one piece; I needed dual shipments from the sellers for all four, and still had to do a bit of
restoration.  They are from Enesco.

These two large creamers with the big smiles are definitely British (as are the ones similar to them in the Places section).  The one on the right with the brown flower transfer print is marked 'Made in England', and the one on the left with pink lipstick and multi-colored hand painted flowers is stamped for England and also bears a sticker and stamp for Arthur Wood, an earthenware manufacturer since 1904 at Bradwell Works, Longport, Stoke-on-Trent.

The blue creamer here is from an identical mold, which seems to be very popular and widespread in the UK. It is marked "Old Flow Blue", from Crownford China, England.  In addition to the variety of colors and styles in which this creamer has been produced by quite a large number of British factories, what I find interesting is that the Japanese apparently took advantage of its popularity to fashion a creamer quite similar to it, here in brown and stamped 'Japan'.  Its features are really much the same - big nose, smile, and all - but it has a much larger back opening, a heavier chest, and a differently shaped bell.

Here in white and with flowers is another example of the Japanese version. The seller, who hails from near Minneapolis, noted, "My husband remembers his mom bringing this out to serve the cream in when they had company. That was in the early 1950's, so this creamer is at least 50 years old. It's been in storage since they moved off the farm in the late 50's".  For some reason there was a lot of competition for this one on eBay, while I was the only bidder on the brown one.  The Japanese seem also to have made a smaller version, with similar facial features though a bit of a different body shape.  Clever and entrepreneurial folks, those post-WWII Japanese ceramicists.

Here are another three that are quite similar, but of slightly different size and decoration.  The pinkish one on the right is unmarked, and is the first of these that I bought.  Next came the white one with the pseudo-Delft decoration (it has a windmill on the left side), stamped Taiwan.  The latest to join the herd is on the left.  It’s marked with an open wreath around a three leaf clover over “Japan”, which is the mark of Nippon Yoko-Boeki Co.  (I’m told the factory is still in operation).  The seller says that it came from Chadwick Miller, a catalog company (importer) that was in operation from @1950-1970, and that there was a whole set of items that accompanied the cow.

Continuing this section of creamers that are very similar, here are two that differ principally by the placement of the tail…with a minor anatomical variation underneath as pictured. If you go to the sugar and creamers page, about a third of the way down, you’ll find three more that have similar heads but very different bodies. I’d assume all these came from the same company, UCAGCO, because the pattern on the white and blue (6-teated) one here is the same as on the sugar and creamer set that came with the company’s sticker. But…for those thousands of you that must be wondering … the creamer that goes with the sugar bowl has only 4 teats.

Here’s another that’s almost certainly from UCAGCO, although only marked “S932”. The chunky build and bright orange udder with red teats are pretty much a sure sign of that company’s cows.

The best I can tell, these are from precisely the same mold and factory, and differ only in the picture (minor variation) and the mark … the one on the right says ‘Delft’, albeit the one on the left is clearly marked ‘Made in Germany’…as you can see even better a few sections further down this page, where it is shown with others of the same style but different sizes.

The light brown wide-eyed creamer here is stamped “Japan B568. Its red friend with the shortened horn (a manufacturing defect) bears a gold sticker that reads “A Quality Product, Japan”.

Here’s another wildly colored version – on a fairly standard mold – that comes from Art Trencadis S.L. of Granollers, Badajoz, Spain. Their web site is decorated much like this cow – as are many of the other articles they make.

There are no markings on this heavy ceramic cow  with red ’blue-willow’ type markings all over, but after I got it (for a while there were bunches of them on eBay) I noticed that   it’s the same but for color was the blue and white one, and also bears precisely the same ‘fake’ blue willow markings as the little head.  Chinese made, I have to assume.

It’s hard to tell where this creamer was made since it isn’t marked on the bottom, but it’s equally hard to miss where it was sold as a souvenir. It’s my only cow from the Isle of Man.

Skipping over to the European continent … here are some more (in addition to those in Places) Portuguese cow creamers.  These two fancy ones are hand painted in faience style. Written on the bottom of the larger one is “515, Berardos, Made in Portugal, Handpainted, SECXVIII, MY”.  Ceramica Berardos is one of 9 independent ceramics factories in Condeixa, Coimbra. The writing on the smaller one reads “117, Ceramica Conimbriga, Sec XVII, Hand Painted Portugal, Lena”.  From the website Portugal Ceramica, we learn that “Recovering a vanishing tradition, Cerâmica de Conímbriga settled in Condeixa-a-Nova in 1960, converting this small town in the centre of Coimbra's traditional Portuguese ceramic. Through the hand of the artist who conceived it, Vaz Lameiro, the art of hispano-arabic ceramic and traditional Portuguese faience (15th through 19th centuries) was developed, creating a prestigious name and establishing itself as a school.”  From Portugal2U, we further find that “The Pieces are reproductions of the Decorations of the 15th and 17th Centuries faiences …This ceramic it’s the only in Portugal, that represents the east tradition, and mainly the influence of Chinese and Arab style. .. Carlos Tomas the artist behind this factory, iniciated its activity as a painter at 11 y.old in the famous and extinct "Ceramica de Conimbriga", and maintains not only the quality this factory was famous for, as well as the Moulds that are unique to that Fabric, being able to reproduce identical pieces to those ones!”

Here’s yet  another – purple this time – marked  “320, Berardos, Made in Portugal M.F.”

Not all Portuguese cows are so fancy or tell such interesting stories.  Here, the plain white heavy ceramic cow with the yellow horns is stamped “By Martan for Hess’s, Portugal”, and its partner, from the same mold but with flowers, is simply stamped ‘Portugal’.  The www.portugalvirtual.pt/0/010656dat3.html website shows a Martan/Safaril Ceramicas, S.A. that manufactures “vitreous plumbing fixtures”…I’m not sure it that’s the same place, or if somehow this cow is a plumber.  Hess’s was a Department store chain based in Allentown, PA that was established in 1897, but it was liquidated in 1994, so again I’m not at all sure of the relationship.

This is an interesting Portuguese variation – plain white but with a handle over the top of the fill hole.  It’s marked “SOFAL, Sociedade do Faiancas [which translates as Society of Ceramics] SA, Portugal” and has a logo of wine glasses.  They’re located in Alcobaca…and playing around on the web, I found that in 1999 they were funded by the EU’s “Fifth Framework Programme for an exploratory research and development award “to develop a polymer coating and decoration system for high quality ceramics. This will eliminate the need for multiple, high temperature firings and will enhance the variety and quality of decorative effects dramatically.”.  Heavens knows whether my cow received such a coating – but I do like the very unique design.

These two are from Italy, with the country name and numbers – ‘1723-176’ for the one on the left, ‘1514-334’ right – that presumably relates to the mold and maker.  There are similar ones without the bases.

These two are also Italian, both bearing the maker’s mark of a castle in a circle with “ESTE” below.  Este is an ancient  town in Padua province in northern Italy that has a history of ceramics production that dates back to prehistoric days. There’s an interesting column about its ceramics by novelist Anita Nair, at http://www.anitanair.net/column/column1.htm.   This company evidently produces for high end retailers, since the creamer with bees is marked ‘decorato a mano’ and GUMPS, and the one with flowers says ‘Made in Italy for Tiffany’s’.  Both are apparently from mold A11.

This creamer is quite similar in overall shape and style to the two from ESTE, but is clearly from a different mold, and has raised decorations.  The marking on its base indicates it was made in Italy for Meiselman Imports of New York.  From the little I can find on the web, Meiselman specialized in rather fine ceramics and china, mostly made on the continent.   One web site indicates it was also known as Ben Har Imports and was active in the 1960s. Meiselman apparently is no longer in business.

This bright little guy is also from Italy - his belly says “Modigliani, Via Condotti, Roma”.  They have nice multi-lingual web page; apparently most of the design work is done there in Rome, but their pieces are manufactured in  Florence, Venice, and other locations in Italy.

These two French creamers are from identical molds, but apparently different makers.  The one on the left sports what I’ve been told is a ‘Rouen’ design, which I guess isn’t too surprising since it’s marked in handwriting, “Fait Main De’cor Rouen, D, 6483”.  The milk of the farm cow is similarly marked G.F., "Fait main”, and also has a circle with a cross.

These two creamers are fashioned from rather common molds, but with quite brilliant and lovely ‘cloisonné’ enamel coatings.  The seller says he got them in a market near Bordeaux, as “La Louviere, in the style of Longwy".   La Louvierre is located in the Belgian Wallonia province of Hainaut.  It is the home of Boch Freres Keramis, founded in 1841.  Longwy lies on the French side of the three-point border with Belgium and Luxemborg, and its pottery Workshop was established by the Huart family in a previous Carmelite monastery in 1798.  From the Emaux de Longwy web site we learn that “after the siege of 1815, J. A. Nothomb, together with his partner Christine Boch, perfectionized the clay-past. Their grandchildren, Hyppolite and Henri-Ferdinand d'Huart reacted brilliant on the overwhelming
attention for the ceramics from the Middle East. The added the Cloisonné technique to their objects d'art and that was a shot in the rose (sic).”  They substituted black clay for the metal cords normally used in the orient to contain the different colored enamels, and that is the technique used on these creamers.  Apparently artists changed jobs between the potteries in La Louviere and Longwy, which
explains the transfer of techniques and thus the attribution of these creamers to the former.

From France we go to Germany.  The group of four – three grays and a red -- all have the “Germany” impression and a number on their lower sides; the one on the far left (item 1498 again) also has a stamp with a gold crest, for “Gerold Porzellan, Bavaria”, and “Made in West Germany” (this is the third of their creamers in this pattern in this theme section).

This lovely German porcelain creamer is from the same mold as the Gerold Porzellan ones above, but it has no marks or stamps, and the paint and glaze seem somewhat different.

These four all bear the mold mark “3872”.  Actually I have six of these, but I figured four was enough to show the variations.  These were popular for souvenirs – the Niagara Falls one was also shown in the Ads and Souvenirs section – and note that even Canada gets into the act with the little black and white guy from Windsor.  He (they’re udderless and elseless – steers I guess) is actually a bit smaller than the others – and differs somewhat in that while the other three have “II” under their mold number, he has a “2”.  I’d guess it would take someone from the manufacturer to explain the difference.

Two more fine German cows, albeit the blue one came over to the US from England with the seller’s mother. These don’t bear a number, and the “Germany” impression is different from all the others in that it’s crosswise on the belly just behind the front legs.

This group of three – two browns and a black – would appear both by look and feel to be from the same factory, but only the large one (which is missing an ear) has maker’s identification: “Dresden” under a shield that has two horseshoes above and one below some stripes.  After that picture was taken I acquired the blue delft-pattern version, which again is the same shape, but a slightly different size.  I’ve included a copy of its mark which I haven’t been able to identify – to me it looks like crossed golf clubs with the letters  “SHC”…but I have no idea what porcelain maker, in Dresden or elsewhere, is that much into golf…can anyone help?

Here’s another lovely German creamer from Dresden…it has a different maker’s mark, but once again I can’t identify it.

This hard-porcelain ‘cup’ like creamer with the cow head spout has a stamp that’s a double red circle with “Made in Germany” between. Other than that I know nothing about it.

This one looked familiar when I went to buy it, but I couldn’t quite place it. Once it arrived, I figured out that it’s a smaller cousin of one that’s way back in the Advertising page, along with other souvenirs from Europe, that’s marked for Wörgl- Tirol, an ancient city of some 12,500 souls some 20 km from the German border in the eastern section of the Austrian Tirols. That one was marked for Apel, Bavaria, and this smaller one bears a blue crown over “AA”. Per usual, I’d appreciate help further identifying their provenance.

Poland: There were several Polish creamers similar to these, and a bit of discussion about them, in the Places section. Here are a few more – The standing one with blue flowers and weird horns comes from “Andy”, a small family owned workshop just outside Boleslawiec, and was apparently decorated my “B.Wozny”. The sitting one is marked for “Cergor, Gorczyrcki”.  The one with two large flowers on the side and red horns says “Hand Made, Unikat, 43a, R. Ihmieldihec” .

Czechoslovakia.  The white and brown sitting cows both have the circular stamp with the country’s name inside.  They are large, shiny versions of the orange sitting creamer that seems to be the most common mold of the Czech creamers (it’s also seen in Places in brown and with spots).  The orange cow is here keeping company (are they talking to each other in Czech? Slovak? Or…) with a fancifully colored but physically realistic standing cow which has the “Made in Czechoslovakia” on its belly in two lines, no circle.  I find it interesting how many countries (China, Japan, Holland, Germany, Brazil, even Czechoslovakia) use “Made in” as part of their markings.  It must be that the English speaking nations are the major consumers of cow creamers (I guess that shouldn’t be surprising given genetic differences in adult lactose tolerance, and where the creamers first became popular).  The French, of course, disdain this practice…theirs are fait not made.

Here are two more with the circular Czechoslovakia stamp – in blue on the standing one, in red on the kneeling one that’s somewhat bumpier than the average cow.

Now, this fascinates me.  The brown creamer with the raised cow and milkmaid is, yet again, Czechoslovakian, with the red circular stamp.  The white one is unmarked.  It is made of very heavy ceramic, and would appear to be a hand made version of the brown one.  Did someone break a beloved original and make a replacement? Was some artisan practicing for an audition at the Czech factory?  This cow came from West Virginia (via eBay), and I’ve asked for more information…

Whatever may be the solution to the riddle of the heavy white creamer above, it would appear that both it and the one from Czechoslovakia are modeled after this grey one from Germany. Its features are much finer, the material is high quality porcelain, there is an open space below the horns, and in addition to a mold number it is marked, in script, “ges gesch” which (as related above) is the abbreviation for gesetzlich geschützt, meaning a registered design or patent. Pretty obviously some folks didn’t pay much attention to that.

Back across the Atlantic, to Mexico.  These dark blue and light green creamers, I'm told, are Talavera.  Poking around on the web, I find from the Talavera Shop’s web site that “Authentic Talavera pottery is the ceramic ware produced by certified workshops in the state of Puebla  Mexico following the traditional process introduced by the Spaniards (of Talavera de la Reina) in the 16th Century. In 1997 the State of Puebla obtained the Denomination of Origin stating that only the pottery produced in the geographical region of the State of Puebla or Zona de Talavera (Talavera Zone)  and that follows the standards set by the Consejo Regulador de la Talavera (Regulating Council of Talavera)  can be called Talavera.    In order to be certified these workshops have to pass an inspection and verification process every six months. So, just as Champagne is only produced in Champagne, France, Talavera can only be produced in Puebla, Mexico.”  The little white cow has a less impressive pedigree, but serves very effectively to advertise the Restaurant Bar Elvira, that’s in the town of Zihuatanejo, south of Ixtapa.  It has mixed reviews on the web…

Continuing on across the Pacific, these four are what I call ‘Japanese short-horns’, another group of which was featured in the Places theme.  Other than the stamp for the country, or ‘hand painted’, there is no information on the maker or importer.

This is an interesting pair of Japanese luster creamers.  I believe they’re from the same mold, albeit the horns of the yellowish one have been set at a different angle.  The marks are different – the purple one has two concentric circles with a 5-petaled flower in the middle and “Made in Japan” between.  I haven’t been able to identify it, but pretty obviously the piece was made for export.  Thanks to Jan-Erik Nilsson’s wonderful www.gotheborg.com site (which I’ve referred to elsewhere for help with my Chinese teapots), I have been able to identify the red elephant head mark on the yellow cow as indicating Tashiro Shoten of Yokohama.  “Shoten” indicates a shop that sells products from its own kiln; this one was active from the 1930’s, from when this mark dates, till it closed in 1954.

Here are four more luster creamers from Japan. All but the one with orange stripes appear to be from the same mold, albeit the markings are not identical.

This well molded luster creamer, reminiscent in some ways of the sitting Czech cows, is marked for Trico, Nagoya Japan; like the brown lying down creamer on page 2 it is almost certainly pre-WWII. It has done some travelling – it came to me from New Zealand.

I’m not quite sure what these two are.  We bought the one on the left in the gift shop of the ‘Airport Garden Hotel’ in Beijing, our last night in China (after a couple drinks). It looks sort of like a cow (it looks more like a cow after a couple drinks), albeit the horns are exceedingly long.  The one on the right came via eBay from Australia; it has what would appear to be double horns – small pieces that stick up and longer ones that sweep back, and it’s exceedingly hairy.  Some strange sort of Australian marsupial cow, perchance…

To end this world tour, here’s a small version of the 5 creamers that started it, back on page 2…it’s unmarked, but the hand painted scene places it pretty surely in China.

Switching from cows from around the world to just plain old miscellaneous cow, here’s an odd bunch.  The one on the left is very crude and heavy ceramic, Japanese, as is the little one next to it.  I’d suspect the brown one in the middle is also.  The two on the right are slightly different interpretations of creamers shown elsewhere – the white sitting up cow with the large head is similar to a couple in the Pitcher theme, and the little green one has the same blanket and raised flower garland as three shown earlier in this section (he just lives on the opposite side of the US, which explains why he wasn’t pictured with the others)

I suppose most of these might be cruets as opposed to creamers…but they certainly meet the two-hole rule.  The first one we got was the reddish brown clay one in the middle with the earrings – in a shop in San Gimignano, Italy, in 1990; it carries fond memories of a pleasant vacation in central Italy, and a fascinating old town of nine towers.  Great wine in the area, too! The only other one of these that’s marked is the dark brown one on the far left, from Enesco and made in Japan.  The little grey-blue cup with cow head spout on the far right is hand made, and almost certainly comes from somewhere in the US; the eBay seller was in Arizona.

Here’s one more of the same shape, this time with cats on the side, advertising a holiday resort in Torremolinos, Costa del Sol, Spain; made in that country and marked with a red crown over a cup with a V, over a blue wreath with “Valdelvira” at the bottom.

Yet one more, for good measure…

This large gold creamer with the Chinese decorations has a sticker which says “Designed and painted in Hong Kong by Maitland Smith”. From eBay’s Popular Items selection, I found that “In 1979, a prominent London antiques dealer and designer [Paul Maitland-Smith] founded the company in Hong Kong. It reproduced eighteenth century decorative accessories and furniture. Highly-skilled artisans and quality raw materials were easily available to produce fine vintage furniture and accessories. The company shifted to Philippines in 1981 and started the first wholly-owned manufacturing facility. This facilitated greater emphasis over quality and a wider product offering. Later, a new facility was built in Indonesia in the early 1990s to further expand its in-house designing and manufacturing processes.” Digging further, from a 1996 Securities and Exchange Commission 10-K filing, we find that Maitland-Smith Inc. has a number of Asia holdings, but was itself (along with many others) a subsidiary of  Lifestyle Furnishings International, Ltd.  They in turn started divesting themselves of furniture companies in 2002, and now Maitland-Smith is one of the brands of Furniture Brands International, Inc., which according to their web site is “the largest furniture manufacturer in the United States (and) was once the largest footwear manufacturer in the United States called the International Shoe Company.” It also has an intriguing history, starting in 1898, which can be found on its web site. Amazing what you can learn from a cow!

Here are two more Maitland Smith cows, and a group shot including the gold one and a white Goebel creamer (that’s 4½”x6½“) to better depict size.  The BIG guy – by far the biggest in the collection – is over a foot tall and long, and weight about 5 pounds.  I seriously doubt it was designed for anything other than display (and rather ostentatious display at that), since full of liquid it’d be very hard to handle.

Here’s a cute handmade cow from Denmark, signed “Susanne, Danmark”

Holes in their head…they must be…?? Only one is marked, and it’s too faded to read. Both came from the UK via eBay, and one of the sellers said he thought his cow was from Beddgelert Pottery (established 1962 and operated by Mrs A, Davey and Mrs P Hancock) which is in Beddgelert, Snowdonia, Wales.  Following the web to Beddgelert’s tourism site, we find an interesting (to me) story, about the village’s most famous historical, feature, “Gelbert’s Grave”.  To quote the site, the headstone reads "In the 13th century Llywelyn, prince of North Wales, had a palace at Beddgelert. One day he went hunting without Gelert, "The Faithful Hound", who was unaccountably absent. On Llywelyn's return the truant, stained and smeared with blood, joyfully sprang to meet his master. The prince alarmed hastened to find his son, and saw the infant's cot empty, the bedclothes and floor covered with blood. The frantic father plunged his sword into the hounds side, thinking it had killed his heir. The dog's dying yell was answered by a child's cry. Llywelyn searched and discovered his boy unharmed, but near by lay the body of a mighty wolf which Gelert had slain. The prince filled with remorse is said never to have smiled again. He buried Gelert here.”  Following these leads is one of the things I enjoy about my collection (even if they’re wrong – I have seen others like these advertised on eBay with a stamp for a different factory in Wales).

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The little grey luster creamer with the gold horns only has a red Made in Japan stamp.  The seller said it was originally acquired in March 1941; I have to assume it was made before WWII. 

I don’t know what to make of this one, and the seller --from Ontario - could only tell me that it was old and acquired from a family selling off their aunt’s things.  Very thick, heavy, and hard ceramic, missing a lid that apparently was incised into the back (like some of the very early Staffordshire ones).  Unfortunately one of the horns got broken during shipment to me;  whatever material that it’s made of doesn’t like super glue, so the tip remains wrapped in tissue in the creamer until I can get some professional restoration.

This cute, ‘folk art’ cow also hails from Ontario.  Much more modern, but also of a very dense, sandy clay with a heavy glaze. 

Here’s another folk-art creamer, again very heavy and hard ceramic with I believe a salt glaze, that the sellers say they bought in Wisconsin. It has hand-scribed marks that read “P.W.+Co.” and “Crotte 100”

These two have to win some sort of ‘ugly contest’ prize.  They are however cows, and thus much beloved…they bear only a stamp that says Made in Germany in small red letters – guess I can’t blame the maker for not wanting to be identified. 

This is another lovely creamer about which I wish had more information, other than the rather non-informative stamp, “Made in Germany” between two circles.  A very cute nursemaid, which came to me via eBay from the UK as do many of the nice English and continental ones.

More puzzles – two cows in monk’s cowls . The eBay  bidding on the large one was furious; I guess I’m still glad I won.  For sure it’s the only one like it that I have even seen.  I think many folks, including myself, had figured, or hoped, that it was Schafer and Vater (see Favorite Brands), but it is not only unmarked – many of theirs weren’t – but has a glossier glaze than they use; and the features, while well done, look somehow different.  The little light brown one, which came from the UK, is also without any indication of its origin, although these fanciful ones are more often than not from Germany.  With these two I would very definitely appreciate any help.

This one isn’t marked either, but is of somewhat less concern, in spite of the fact that’s it’s a sprightly little cow…it’s here by itself largely because it was a late addition, arriving after all the other pictures had been taken. 

Closing out this subsection, here is Sakura, Inc’s Made in China Animal Collection pitcher, © Warren Kimble.  Sakura makes consumer dinnerware for sale through department stores, mass merchandisers, and private labels, and was acquired by Oneida Ltd (for $40M! I guess they must make more than cows) in 2000. Poking around on the web, I found there were a lot of companies using the name sakura…not surprising, I’d guess, since it’s the Japanese word for cherry trees and their blossoms (it’s thus also popular in anime and manga).  Warren Kimble is a folk artist from Brandon, VT, and you can learn all about him at his web site.  He draws big bodied cows with little heads.

As promised in the Ads and Souvenirs theme section, here are some more of Whirley’s Moo Cows – they must have been made in the millions, and lots are still around.  I’d imagine that someone, somewhere, has a collection of hundreds of these with different colors and front plates.  I’ve settled for only a dozen or so.  Attesting to their popularity are the various gift sets that were available – here a simple one with just the creamer and sugar on a tray, and a fancier one that has a cover and salt and pepper – and lots of helpful suggestions on the box about how to use it in different ways. 

This large plastic black and white beauty is ‘Milky the Marvelous Milking Cow’, make by Kenner in 1977 in cooperation with General Mills, as a promotional toy (cereal…milk…get it?)  You put water in the trough, pushed her head down into it, and pumped the tail. Milky would drink the water, then her head would come up and she’d ‘moo’.  Next you put the bucket under the appropriate part of Milky’s anatomy, pulled on the plastic teat, and cloudy (from a powdered milk substance that came as tablets) water would come out. Neat! Surely some of you must remember this… As shown here, Milky came with a placemat, detailed instructions, and a story booklet entitled "The Adventures of Marko & Melissa Milkdrop with Milky the Marvelous Milking Cow".   From several web pages (e.g., www.flickr.com or a wikipedia article), we find that Kenner was started by Albert, Philip and Joseph Steiner in 1947 and named after the street in Cincinatti, OH where its offices were located..  It was acquired by General Mills in 1967.  They merged it with Rainbow Crafts in 1970, then in 1985 spun off their Kenner and Parker divisions to form Kenner Parker toys, which was bought by Tonka in 1987; Hasbro then bought Tonka in 1991, and shut Kenner down in 2000, merging its products into their brand line.   Milky is of course no longer made, but is still very popular; she sells well on eBay, to folks that played with her as a child and want to get a version for their own kids.

Ever wonder how Milky worked?  Well, I did, so I bought an inexpensive and inoperable (but well used) version and did a bit of dissection.  Very clever arrangement of bellows to suck up the milk, and gears to raise the head and invert the ‘moo-er’.  Quite an impressive design.  And VERY hard plastic!  Milky was not at all easy to get open.

Here's a much simpler approach - in a plush-toy cow with plastic horns and a pink bow with flowers.  You simply take out the plastic plug on her back, fill the tube with milk from a dropper, and as the instructions read, "Milking is done realistically - by squeezing the udder" (well, I guess that's somewhat close to realistic though I wouldn't suggest trying it on the real thing). As her tag says, this is "MILKA MOO, the Milking Cow", made by Ideal ("Made in U.S.A. by Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, Hollis 7, N.Y.").  From Wikipedia we find that "Ideal Toy Company was founded as Ideal Novelty and Toy Company in New York in 1907 by Morris and Rose Michtom after they had invented the Teddy bear in 1903. The company changed its name to Ideal Toy Company in 1938. In 1982, the company was sold to CBS Toy Company, which itself closed down. Certain brands and toys have been continued through other companies, most notably the Magic 8-ball and Rubik's Cube."  That's nice to know because it helps date MILKA to pre-1938.getting to be an old cow, even older than me! interestingly, she isn't listed on the Wikipedia page among the toys and novelties made by Ideal. I guess I'll have to make my first Wikipedia contribution some day soon!

In addition to huge Milky, there are some tiny plastic milking toys.  I have three versions of these.  First is “Jersey Jessie the Milking Moo-Cow”.  Jessie was made by Thomas Toy. The placard around her neck says, “Lift my tail and I’ll fill the pail”.  Jessie is a lot simpler mechanically than Milky – you simply rotate her udder, remove it, fill the little rubber bulb above it with water or milk, and put it back in; lifting the tail compresses the bulb and presto!  In the second picture, the little black cow standing tail to tail with Jessie is very similar, albeit the neck is longer and the buckle on her collar is on the opposite side.  Her side imprint reads “Tudor Rose”, and on the other side, “Made in England”.  This company also made ramp walking cows that had the same body and head shape.  Other than that, I haven’t been able to find out anything about these little guys – not even who copied whom. In the third picture, the little brown and white cow with the curved horns and black bell operates the same way, but is obviously from a different mold.  I have no information about that one.

Here is another version of the same idea, complete with its original placard – Toy #J-3019, Milking Cow, from Louis Marx & Co, Inc.  There’s a great write-up about this company on Wikipedia – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Marx_and_Company  , but basically they were founded in New York City by Louis and his brother David in 1919.  Louis sold the company to Quaker Oats and retired (a rich man) in 1972 and they in turn sold it to Dunbee-Combex-Marx of the UK.  The Marx brand disappeared in 1978, and the company went bankrupt in 1980; the rights to some of the toys were sold and some are apparently still in production.  Not this cow though, at least not recently.

Same idea, different approach:  This old and much-loved cow is rubber; you squeeze her sides, stick the nose in water, release and she fills up.  Then there’s a little detent on a spring in the middle of her udder that you depress to have the liquid come out the other end.  I have no information about this one – it isn’t marked, but it’s certainly been well used since the fuzz is completely rubbed off the side where you’d squeeze her. Age? Well, I’ve seen another advertised on eBay as having been found wrapped in a 1932 newspaper…

Pewter is tin and lead, so it’s not exactly the best material for storing liquids. Thus the pewter cow with the lid is lined with silver plate.  It’s “Old Colony Pewter Ware” and bears their name and mark of a lady in a bonnet inside the lid.  Its companion is Japanese, and appears to be silverplate on the outside, with some sort of a white enamel coating inside.  The little guy in the pen with the bucket is pewter pure and simple; it’s made by Universal Pewter and bears their mark of an intertwined U and P in a circle, and is stamped to be 95% tin. A search on the web shows that it’s available from Pierre Deux for $38 (they imply it’s French Country of course), or from Shirley Pewter Shops of Williamburg VA for $74 (they say it’s imported). About the only thing I can find out about Universal Pewter Corporation through Google is that they were in Houston, TX (of course that doesn’t say where their items were made), and that there have recently been a couple of tax confiscation auctions of their properties.

I bought one of these via eBay, and a friend found another that was part of a house clearance at an antique fair in England, so I now have two. They are electroplated nickel silver, marked PT&Co.

This little bull is sand cast, and I believe it to be Mexican silver.  He sure shined up very nicely after a bit of elbow grease.

This chubby guy is aluminum, copyrighted in 1992 and made in Taiwan – modeled I believe after a ceramic teapot, but placed here with my other metal cows. It’s marked for a company called CBK, whose web sites inform us that it was founded in 1979 by Robert Kirkland who “stated his business by renting space over a bank in downtown Union City”. It’s a “one minimum, one source vendor for the independent retail channel”, and from its humble beginnings has expanded into a 10 acre facility, plus showrooms in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Las Vegas. Mr Kirkland retired in 2002 (presumably as a wealthy man!) and sold CBK to Blyth, Inc which says it’s a “leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of candles, home fragrance products and accessories”. And, I’d guess, of aluminum cows, since I’ve never seen another.

This is a bit of a mixture, and I’ve thrown in a couple ‘ringers’: green and yellow porcelain German goblins that somehow got mixed in with the cows. The two little girls are unmarked, the others are Japanese.

Now, this one violates all the rules but one… no two holes, no ‘pitcher, etc…but as the box clearly says, it is indeed a ‘cow creamer’, as long as you’re willing to count that non-dairy stuff.  For 99 cents I couldn’t pass it up.  Clever of Publix to push its powdered creamer this way. 

More rule-breakers, that I just couldn’t resist…the little white one standing on a base has a very strange (Korean??) stamp on the bottom, and only a single hole – a large one – in the top of its rear end. It’s obviously meant to hold some sort of liquid, but I have no idea what. Can someone please help translate? Its neighbor with the black spots and brown horns does meet the ‘two hole’ rule – actually it has three, one being in the top of its head. It’s a ‘water warbler’ … you put water (or cream…) in it, blow into the mouth piece, and it sounds like some very strange kind of bird (cow-bird?). Cute, huh?

I’m closing out this theme section with a number of creamers from Cow Parade. Cow Parade bills itself as ‘the world’s largest public art event’.  The concept originated in Zurich in 1998, and the first show was in Chicago in 1999.  There have since been shows in some 40 cities around the world, and it has spurred a number of public art events featuring other animals, e.g  bears,  horses, and fish, as well as a whole line of figurines featuring some of the wilder designs.  At one point the company that produces the figurines made a number of creamers and sugar-and-creamer sets from some of the ‘simpler’ designs.  These are all from the same molds, but bear the decorations associated with their names.  There are also teapot versions of these two, Fruits of Summer and Where’s the Beef.  I’d imagine that somewhere there’s a record of the name of the artist that did each cow, plus information on where the full size one was located, but I haven’t found it.

Leopard

Party Cow

Devine Bovine

Bess Bovine

Zow Cow and Lightfoot

Striped Cow and China Cow

Hugs and Smooches, and Wrestler