The Cream of the Crop

QUESTION: Last year I went antiquing in the English Cotswolds. In nearly every shop I went into, I saw at least one or more little cow creamers waiting for new homes. How did these little ceramic accessories come about and why did they choose to make them in the shape of a cow?

ANSWER: Originally made in England, then in Scotland and America, these unique creamers were the pride and joy of many late 18th and early 19th-century English housewives, both rich and poor. They kept these spotted bovines sitting on top of their dining room dressers, ready to use on special occasions.

These pottery cow creamers are little jugs standing firm on all four legs. They’re  usually about six inches long and four to five inches high. Housewives would pour fresh cream through a hole in the cow’s back, then seal up the whole with a cover. Unfortunately, many a cow creamer today is missing its cover. The cow’s curved tail served as the handle while its mouth served as the spout.

Cow creamers are among the oldest forms of decorative tableware still in existence today. Their ancestry can be traced back  to a decorative European jug used for washing the hands before and during a meal called an “aquamanile.” These jugs were very fancy and often doubled as a centerpiece. Ironically, an aquamanile had many of the same features as a cow creamer—a body in the shape of an animal standing square on its legs, a tail arched to meet its back that served as a handle, a hole in its back by which the jug could be filled, and a gaping mouth from which to pour the water.

Made from gold, silver, bronze, or pewter, the aquamaniles were most commonly shaped like lions, sometimes encrusted with precious stones.

It was the Dutch that chose the cow as the shape for the cow creamer which became a luxury accessory.

During the 18th century, coffee drinking became popular among the social elite of Europe. The new coffee ritual demanded novelty jugs to hold the cream. Those depicting a cow with a bee perched on its back were the most popular.

Initially, silversmiths created cow creamers in different sizes but using the same freestanding cow. There were all sorts of whimsical variations—some had garlands around their necks, hinged lids, or handles shaped like flies, bees, or flowers. But when the Dutch began making the creamers in tin-glazed Delftware, the fencegates opened and a whole herd of creamers rushed out.

The first cow creamer came from the Whieldon Pottery, which imitated the silver cow jugs made in 1755 by John Schuppe. The most well-known of these had a mottled brown tortoise shell-type glaze. Others had brown and yellow spots, black with a criscrossed yellow pattern, and even light blue with yellow circles.

But the clay was more difficult to control and sculpt than metal, so the potters introduced a few changes to the design to make it conform more to the different material. While a silver cow could stand directly on its legs, a pottery cow could not. This necessitated the addition of a base to help stabilize and strengthen the clay.

It seems every potter added his touch of whimsy. In fact, there are almost as many different decorations as there are creamers.

 potters also crafted these unique little jugs, essentially copying from the earlier Whieldon design. None of these have markings on the bottom. The Welsh potters added their own creative touches to their cow creamers. Many decorated them freehand or applied transfer designs of rustic farm scenes. After 1850, the Scots developed a love affair with the cow creamer. Scottish potters experimented with sponged decoration and brightly colored glazes.

After the American Revolution and into the early 19th century, imported English pottery became too expensive, so the United States Pottery in Bennington, Vermont, began making its own version of the cow creamer. Each cow had crescent-shaped nostrils, open eyes, folds in the neck, and visible ribs. I guess the American cows weren’t as well fed as their English, Scottish, and Welsh cousins. After Bennington closed in 1858, its potters sought work at potteries in Ohio, Maryland, and New Jersey, taking their skill at making cow creamers with them.

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Remembrances in China

QUESTION: I recently purchased a souvenir plate at an antique show. The plate shows a picture of Jackson Square in New Orleans and has a stencil-like border design around its edge. On the bottom is a mark that says “Wheelock, Made in Germany for the Curio Store, Canal St., New Orleans, La.” What can you tell me anything about Wheelock? I’ve never heard of that china company.

ANSWER: Souvenir china was popular from the last two decades of the 19th century to eh first decade of the 20th because most of the pieces came from Germany and Austria and with the outbreak of World War I, the flow of pieces stopped. 

Tourism blossomed during the last decade of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th. As people traveled, they collected souvenirs as remembrances of where they had been and what they had seen. Postcards, photographs and small items of souvenir china became popular. At first, all of the souvenir china came from Europe.

Souvenir china is often overlooked by serious collectors of antiques, yet it’s a fascinating part of Americana, especially pieces produced from 1890 to 1916. Merchants in over 2,000 villages and towns throughout the U.S. sold a variety of pieces, each featuring a local landmark—a church, school, store, bank, river, train depot, street, hospital, or historical site or monument.

China collectors consider Wheelock one of the founders of ceramic pictorial souvenir ware in the U.S. It wasn’t a large firm but a cooperative enterprise owned by three brothers—Charles, George, and Arthur Wheelock.

In 1877, Charles took charge of a store selling fine china in South Bend, Indiana. Five years later, his brother George joined Charles as a clerk in the store. A year after that, George opened his own store, also in South Bend. In 1887, Charles moved his business to Peoria, Illinois, while George operated the two stores in South Bend. About 1888, a third brother, Arthur, opened a branch of the Wheelock stores in Rockford, Illinois, with later branches in Des Moines, Iowa and Milwaukee. A fourth son, Frank, remained with his father store in Janesville, Wisconsin.

The Wheelocks became one of the largest wholesalers and retailers of fine china in the United States. When Charles moved his business to Peoria, he hired John H. Roth to work for him, and the brothers became interested in a new enterprise, souvenir china. Their contacts with German and Austrian potteries, which produced their fine china, provided a source for the souvenir ware.

Around 1894, the Wheelock Brothers hired traveling salesmen specifically to market souvenir china in the towns and hamlets of Illinois and nearby states. The salesmen carried pattern books that listed the hundreds of shapes available. The merchants provided the scenic photos which the salesmen sent to the European potteries which   reproduced them as black decals that workers applied to the porcelain blanks before the initial firing. Other workers hand colored the pieces and applied other decoration before the final firing. A hand-painted label identified the scene on each piece.

Most of the pieces received a stamp on the bottom or back with the name and town of the merchant as well as the word Wheelock and the town and/or country where it had been produced. The European potteries then shipped the pieces directly to the shopkeepers. 

The Wheelocks continued to produce souvenir china until the start of World War I when access to the European potteries ended. Unfortunately, it never resumed.

Wheelock souvenir ware comes in over 1,500 shapes and sizes, ranging from 2-inch trinket boxes to 12½-inch dishes and plates. More than 80 percent of the pieces produced were white porcelain. Less than 20 percent were white porcelain coated on the outside with cobalt blue or, in a few cases, dark green pigment.

Of more than 7,000 different pieces of white Wheelock souvenir china, a little more than half are plates, the most popular of which ranged in size from 5½ to 6½ inches in diameter. The most common of these are smooth-edged rimless plates, ranging in size from 3½  to 10 inches in diameter. Creamers and cups each represent a bit less than 10 percent of the pieces.

The makeup of the shapes of the cobalt pieces isn’t the same as the white porcelain ones. Creamers are the most common, representing 20 percent of the more than 1,400 cobalt pieces. There are nearly as many cobalt vases as creamers. Cobalt cups, toothpick holders, and dishes follow in that order.

Today, the average price of a piece of Wheelock china is around $20. But some of the more unique ones, like beer steins, have sold for several hundred dollars. Prices paid for Wheelock pieces vary widely, with the higher prices being paid for some unique pieces or historic locations. For example, a dish from the historic mining town of Lead, S.D., sold for $242, while a dish from Watertown, South Dakota, sold for $24. Plates tend to sell for more than other forms.

Part of the enjoyment of collecting souvenir china is the search. Even though Wheelock had thousands of pieces made, they’re scattered all over the country. Antique shops in the East and Midwest seem to have more of them than shops in the South and West since nearly 75 percent are souvenirs of the former areas.

Read more about Victorian souvenirs in  "Wish You Were Here," the story of souvenir postcards in The Antiques Almanac.

Mooovelous!

QUESTION: My great aunt gave me a funny little pitcher shaped like a cow. It has no markings on it. Can you tell me anything about it?

ANSWER: What this person has is a cow creamer. Originally made in England, then in Scotland and America, these unique creamers were the pride and joy of many late 18th and early 19th-century English housewives. They kept these spotted bovines sitting on top of their dining room dressers, ready to use on special occasions.

These pottery cow creamers are usually about six inches long and four to five inches high. Housewives would pour fresh cream through a hole in the cow’s back, then seal up the whole with a cover. Unfortunately, many a cow creamer today is missing its cover. The cow’s curved tail served as the handle while its mouth served as the spout.

The first cow creamer came from the Whieldon Pottery, which imitated the silver cow jugs made in 1755 by John Schuppe. The most well-known of these had a mottled brown tortoise shell-type glaze. Others had brown and yellow spots, black with a criscrossed yellow pattern, and even light blue with yellow circles.

It seems every potter added his touch of whimsy. In fact, there are almost as many different decorations as there are creamers.

Staffordshire potters also crafted these unique little jugs, essentially copying from the earlier Whieldon design. None of these have markings on the bottom. The Welsh potters added their own creative touches to their cow creamers. Many decorated them freehand or applied transfer designs of rustic farm scenes. After 1850, the Scots developed a love affair with the cow creamer. Scottish potters experimented with sponged decoration and brightly colored glazes.

After the American Revolution and into the early 19th century, imported English pottery became too expensive, so the United States Pottery in Bennington, Vermont, began making its own version of the cow creamer. Each cow had crescent-shaped nostrils, open eyes, folds in the neck, and visible ribs. I guess the American cows weren’t as well fed as their English, Scottish, and Welsh cousins. After Bennington closed in 1858, its potters sought work at potteries in Ohio, Maryland, and New Jersey, taking their skill at making cow creamers with them.