Little Polly Flinders
“Little Polly Flinders,
Sat among the cinders,
Warming her pretty little toes.
Mother came and caught her,
And whipped her little daughter,
For spoiling her nice new clothes.”
Old English nursery rhyme
I'm not entirely sure why, but when I saw this beautiful French half-doll for the first time, I just immediately thought of Little Polly Flinders from the old English Nursery Rhyme. Perhaps it is her rather wistful look as she dreams, or perhaps her age discolored and delicate lace gown.
Quite recently, I obtained some lovely vintage and antique haberdashery notions from two contacts of mine who specialise in supplying French and British pieces. Amongst the items that caught my eye were this wonderful French Art Deco half-doll, who came complete with her two original porcelain legs and an array of spools with interesting labels on their heads, including one from Harrods in Knightsbridge.
Even though the labels on these spools are all from different companies, they were all manufactured by the Wardav Company who made spools for an array of different businesses, both large, like Harrods and small like C. Payne Ltd. I don’t know anything, nor can I find anything about the Wardev Company after extensive research, other than the business was run by a Jewish family and located in London’s multicultural East End, and that they produced cotton spools for the Chinese Silk Twist Company, Harrods and many more businesses.
The "half-doll" is a dainty porcelain or bisque figurine, fashionable in the early Twentieth Century with an upper body, head, arms, but usually no legs. These dolls were produced in the thousands at the height of their popularity by German factories such as Dressel and Kister, Heubach, Goebel and Kestner. Later they were produced in France, America and later still, in Japan. They commonly served as handles and toppers for fabric covers made for powder boxes on ladies’ dressing tables and small brushes, however they were also made for jewellery boxes, pincushions, tea cosies and other covers. In this case, my French half-doll is dressed in contemporary (for the time) style dress, and under her lovely age discoloured skirt she has a pale floral pincushion. I love her original dainty white legs and feet clad in golden pumps.
The thimble at the front of the image, near the half-doll’s legs is sterling silver. It was made by the famous silversmith firm Charles Horner in Chester in 1905. It is more unusual than many thimbles with a pierced cast bright cut border. Charles Horner was born in 1837 in Yorkshire. Born to a local weaver in Ovenden, his business was founded in the 1860s in Halifax. Although the company was known for producing a wide range of jewellery and silver objects, they were particularly recognised for their Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau enamelled pendants. N Although Charles died before the turn of the century, his company continued to flourish under the stewardship of his sons. Thanks to them, it survived both World Wars, and continued producing jewellery until the mid 1980s. Charles Horner of Halifax, first grew to notoriety due to the development of the ‘Dorcas’ thimble, which was patented in 1884. Dorcas thimbles differed from the ones made before as they had a layer of reinforced steel in between the decorated silver shell. Prior to this, thimbles were often made of a softer silver that did not stop sewing needles from pricking the skin. The Dorcas thimble was incredibly popular. Although the company also produced traditional silver hallmarked thimbles and jewellery, the Dorcas thimble was most likely the innovation that earnt the company acclaim and allowed them to expand. Charles Horner of Halifax continued to produce thimbles until 1947.
Little Polly Flinders
“Little Polly Flinders,
Sat among the cinders,
Warming her pretty little toes.
Mother came and caught her,
And whipped her little daughter,
For spoiling her nice new clothes.”
Old English nursery rhyme
I'm not entirely sure why, but when I saw this beautiful French half-doll for the first time, I just immediately thought of Little Polly Flinders from the old English Nursery Rhyme. Perhaps it is her rather wistful look as she dreams, or perhaps her age discolored and delicate lace gown.
Quite recently, I obtained some lovely vintage and antique haberdashery notions from two contacts of mine who specialise in supplying French and British pieces. Amongst the items that caught my eye were this wonderful French Art Deco half-doll, who came complete with her two original porcelain legs and an array of spools with interesting labels on their heads, including one from Harrods in Knightsbridge.
Even though the labels on these spools are all from different companies, they were all manufactured by the Wardav Company who made spools for an array of different businesses, both large, like Harrods and small like C. Payne Ltd. I don’t know anything, nor can I find anything about the Wardev Company after extensive research, other than the business was run by a Jewish family and located in London’s multicultural East End, and that they produced cotton spools for the Chinese Silk Twist Company, Harrods and many more businesses.
The "half-doll" is a dainty porcelain or bisque figurine, fashionable in the early Twentieth Century with an upper body, head, arms, but usually no legs. These dolls were produced in the thousands at the height of their popularity by German factories such as Dressel and Kister, Heubach, Goebel and Kestner. Later they were produced in France, America and later still, in Japan. They commonly served as handles and toppers for fabric covers made for powder boxes on ladies’ dressing tables and small brushes, however they were also made for jewellery boxes, pincushions, tea cosies and other covers. In this case, my French half-doll is dressed in contemporary (for the time) style dress, and under her lovely age discoloured skirt she has a pale floral pincushion. I love her original dainty white legs and feet clad in golden pumps.
The thimble at the front of the image, near the half-doll’s legs is sterling silver. It was made by the famous silversmith firm Charles Horner in Chester in 1905. It is more unusual than many thimbles with a pierced cast bright cut border. Charles Horner was born in 1837 in Yorkshire. Born to a local weaver in Ovenden, his business was founded in the 1860s in Halifax. Although the company was known for producing a wide range of jewellery and silver objects, they were particularly recognised for their Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau enamelled pendants. N Although Charles died before the turn of the century, his company continued to flourish under the stewardship of his sons. Thanks to them, it survived both World Wars, and continued producing jewellery until the mid 1980s. Charles Horner of Halifax, first grew to notoriety due to the development of the ‘Dorcas’ thimble, which was patented in 1884. Dorcas thimbles differed from the ones made before as they had a layer of reinforced steel in between the decorated silver shell. Prior to this, thimbles were often made of a softer silver that did not stop sewing needles from pricking the skin. The Dorcas thimble was incredibly popular. Although the company also produced traditional silver hallmarked thimbles and jewellery, the Dorcas thimble was most likely the innovation that earnt the company acclaim and allowed them to expand. Charles Horner of Halifax continued to produce thimbles until 1947.