Victorian Fairings

If you visited the fair during the mid 19thC until the early 20thC you would have probably come home the proud owner of a little china figure now referred to as a 'Fairing'. They were given away to the working classes as prizes at fair and were mostly about 3.5" long and about 2.5" deep and 3" tall, mounted on a rectangular base. They were normally made from white, glazed, soft-paste porcelain and were intended for display on mantelpieces.

Typical themes for fairings were generally risqué for the period for example marital scenes such as 'married for money', 'Shall we sleep first, or ....'.

Fairings were manufactured from the middle of the 19th century to the outbreak of the first world war.

Victorian Fairings Dating Fairings Dating Conta & Boehme Fairings Dating Non Conta & Boehme Fairings Identification Marking

The ironic thing about these figures is that although they displayed typically English humour they were in the main made in Germany in particular by Conta & Boehme of Pössneck.

 

Dating Fairings

 

Dating Conta & Boehme Fairings

• Earlier Fairings some times had the 4 digit numbers incised on the base, these will usually be found without Conta & Boehme’s shield mark. The shield/dagger mark was not used before 1850
• Fairings from 1850-1860 were generally larger than those that followed
• From the 1890s the shield mark may be printed or the "Made in Germany" mark could be present, but just to confuse you even further, no 4 digit impressed or incised numbers may be present. It is generally assumed that these are fakes but according to my research this is not necessarily the case.
• circa 1890 the shield was printed on base.
• after 1890 the colours of Conta & Boehme Fairings became brighter and much more colourful.
• 1891 made in Germany' was used as all ceramics had to indicate country of manufactory
• 1914 fairings not being made
• A bicycle indicates that a piece is later than 1867. Some fairings have themes based on popular music or prints, these may be dated easily.

 

Dating Non Conta & Boehme Fairings

 

• Most of the other manufactures of the more inferior fairings started circa 1890 onwards until 1914.
• Use dating parameters that you would normally use to date non-fairings porcelain.
• Most 'modern' reproductions were produced mid/late-20th century.
• Reproduction Alert

 

Identification Marking

There are also a few other manufactures of fairings based on marks that have been found.

	Mark	Manufacture
	R mark with shield or beehive - Vienna Mark	Possible Ackermann & Fritze of Rudolstadt hence R
	EB&S	Ernst Bohme & Sohne also of Rudolstadt
	G	unidentified as yet.
		Conta & Boehme (included just for completeness)

Some other notes:

• A base with a continuous ridge, top and bottom, is from the first half of the 1860s, while bustles came in after 1870.
• A bicycle indicates that a piece is later than 1867. Some fairings have themes based on popular music or prints, these may be dated easily.

When you are buying fairings make sure that the number, style and subject all point to the same factory, if they do not then it is a reproduction