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Wade Whimsies first appeared in 1953 and were a product for the need for new retail lines as the Wade potteries lost contracts in their traditional industrial ceramics market.The result was a series of miniature porcelain animal models.Wade had produced a miniature figure series in the 1930s and the Whimsies were thought to be a good marketing idea.They became popular very quickly being affordable, extremely cute and collectable.
The Whimsies initially came in boxes of four or five.Ten sets were produced upto 1959 and then Wade stopped general production, but continued to manufacturing Whimsies as promotional premiums given away with various products.There popularity endured and in 1971 Wade began to market the Whimsies as a retail line again,
Unlike the earlier series, the new sets came in individual boxes, although it was still possible to purchase a full set packaged together.Twelve sets were produced up until 1980, and production continued until 1984 when the Whimsies again were taken off the market.
A total of 109 Whimsies were produced in 22 main sets.The first sets ranged from a general selection to themed boxes, such as pedigree dogs, farm animals, zoo animals, North American animals, and polar animals. The second series had similar themes along with birds, big cats and sea creatures.It has been noted that the quality of the second series is below that of the first, with slightly less detail and poorer moulding.
Whimsies have become quite collectable with the majority of the second fairly easy to come by and still not very expensive.The rarest of the second series is the Sea Horse.The Whimsies from the earlier first series are more difficult to locate hence are more valuable.Some of the more collectable pieces from this series are the Swan and the Shire Horse.
By Susan Brewer
Disney and Wade are two of the hottest collectables names around - so a combination of both makes for something really special.In 1955, Walt Disney's film Lady and the Tramp was released and was a tremendous success, combining an appealing story, enchanting animation, and songs by Peggy Lee, one of the greatest singers of the era, it was no wonder that Wade approached Disney for permission to use the character designs for a new series of porcelain figures.
In the film Lady was given as a Christmas gift hidden in a hatbox, and so each model was similarly packaged in a small, round, striped cardboard box.Naturally the series was called "hatbox".The first four figurines were released in 1956 and retailed at 2/11d (30p) each.
This set, all from Lady and the Tramp, included the two title Characters, plus Jock the Scottie, and Trusty the bloodhound.They were nicely modeled and painted, and stood around 1.5 - 2 inches tall.In this early set, Jock wasn't wearing his familiar tartan coat, but later he was given a blue coat which was subsequently changed to green.
The Characters proved popular and over the next few years more figurines from Lady and the Tramp appeared in the shops.
Eventually the set included Scamp the naughty puppy, as well as Peg, Dachie, Toughy and Boris, all dogs from the film.Also available were those two evil siamese cats Si and Am, Si in particular looking very sinister as he revealed those sharp feline toothypegs.
Characters were produced from other films such as Bambi and his friends Thumper the bunny and Flower the skunk as well as Pegasus the little winged horse from Fantasia and Dumbo the elephant with the over-large ears, all appeared as china figures in the hatbox series.
In the early 1960s Wade introduced 10 new figurines, and the price rose to 3/6d (33p).Because the last set had such a short production run, many are now extremely rare, and some are commanding prices of a hundred pounds or so, which seems a lot of money for a two inch high figure. The Characters included dogs from 101 dalmations - Rolly, Lucky and the Colonel, and also the cat Sergeant Tibbs.
But it is the Sword in the Stone set that contains the most highly-prized figurines of all - Merlin the Wizard in his alter-egos of Caterpilla, Turtle or Hare, as well as Madam Mim the hen, Archimedes the owl, and the girl squirrel.Just a couple of years later, the Wade hatbox series was discontinued.Merlin as a Turtle is now the most wanted, and the most difficult to obtain, Hatbox figurine.
Sixteen years later Wade must have had second thoughts because they reissued seven of the original figures - Lady, Jock, Scamp, Peg, Dachie - now called Dachsie - Bambi and Thumper.Tramp was also reissued, but this was a new version, seated instead of standing and didn't seem to capture the charisma and impudence of the original streetwise dog,Also the modeling on this new figure wasn't as fine, and it was smaller, out of proportion with the others in the set,The original standing Tramp is now becoming quite scarce, because the long lanky legs are delicate and so easily broken.
The other designs remained the same, apart from slight colour variations which are difficult to distinguish unless you can compare both versions side by side.For instances, Peg's fringe was beige in the new model and yellow in the original, while Scamps ears were now pink inside instead of mauve.Thumpers flower changed from dark to light orange, Bambi's eyes from dark to light brown and Jock's mouth from purple to pink.
Wade also released four models from the Fox and the Hound.These were Big Mama the owl, Tod the fox, and Copper and Chief, two of the dogs.Some of these models came in small round boxes made from plastic.The others came in cardboard boxes brightly decorated with Disney characters.Now the series was just referred to "Disneys".Today, prices vary greatly for Hatbox and Disney figurines, but the more common ones such as Lady, Peg and Bambi are around ten to twenty pounds.
As a follow-on from the first Hatbox series, Wade produced a series of extra large Disney Characters, similar to the smaller models, except for Jock who was standing instead of sitting, and Lady and the Tramp both now sat.These models were around 5 inches tall, and became known as "blow ups" amongst collectors,They're very collectable with some changing hands for two hundred pounds or more.
