Building up families of dogs in different sizes is fun. But if you want a family of dogs with baskets, you are going to need a little help, because these highly sought after figures are very difficult to find.

The copper luster examples, above right, are the only ones known to exist.  If some of these faces look familiar, you might know them from Harding's book of Staffordshire Dogs, for which Elinor provided many of the models.

For those hard to find figures that just don't come up very often, always contact Elinor.

As we all know...  Cats sleep anywhere, any table, any chair. Top of piano, window-ledge, in the middle, on the edge.  Or so the poem goes.  But you may not know that cats, with their associations of witchcraft, were not popular pets in 19th century Britain. And not just in Britain, Napoleon also famously hated cats.

​In fact, it wasn't until the Blitz in London in the 1940s that cats really took off as popular pets; both as comforters and a means of keeping down rats and mice displaced by Nazi bombs. And what that means for Victorian Staffordshire collectors is that cats are rare. There were at least 100 Staffordshire dogs produced for every cat, maybe even a 1,000.  So why not give one of these rarities a home?  Everyone needs a feline friend.

One of the joys of Staffordshire figures is the great variety of molds available. You could spend a lifetime collecting sailors alone. They were a popular subject throughout the 19th century, at the start of which Charles Dibden penned the following verse...

But the standing toast that pleased the most
Was "The wind that blows,
The Ship that goes,
And the lass that loves a sailor!"

If someone in this jolly crew catches your eye, contact Elinor!