The Royal Worcester Bonzos
 

A group of Royal Worcester figures.  The two side figures are free-standing figurines, the middle one is a Pepper Pot - you can just see the perforated holes in his head.  They were designed by Frederick Gertner in 1929, and issued with the Worcester Model number 2855.  These three pictured were all made and date marked in 1930.  The figurines stand 2¾ inches tall, and the pepper pot is 3 inches.

 

Described as black & red, this rarer of the two figurines seems to be a 'reverse colour' Bonzo, though occasionally Studdy drew him in a black 'Negro' style image.

A more natural coloured Bonzo, officially described as Puce and Pink.  This figurine is probably one of my personal favourites of all the Bonzo memorabilia.

 
These two images show a blank mould of the Worcester Bonzo.  It is simply the natural porcelain as it comes out post firing, and glazed.  For some Worcester collectors, this is a better piece as no flaws can exist in the porcelain - a painted one can disguise small flaws in a piece.

 

Date code for 1930: 

Two views of the base showing the Royal Worcester mark and date code, and how they incorporated cute little paw prints on the underside of the paws.

 

The Royal Doulton Bonzos

Bonzo was produced by Royal Doulton in bone china over the period of 1922 to 1946 (of course there were very few done during WWII). They were produced in 4 styles with different coloring and shapes. The Bonzos were designed by Charles Noke, the Art Director of Royal Doulton at the time, and it is believed that they were favorites of his.

Style one, Bonzo lying down, was produced as HN 804 between 1922-36 and colored in cream with brown spots.  It has the abbreviated Royal Doulton Mark (Circle) due to its limited space on the small base. 

 
 

Style two (large mouth) was produced between 1923-36 as HN805A (green/purple), HN809 (yellow) and HN811 (blue). These all measured 2½ inches in height and due to the very limited space on the base only carried the name 'Doulton'.

 
 

Other variants appear in this style such as shown in the photos of one decorated in cream with black spots.

Another extremely rare variant is the Jade version, which is an experimental reduction glaze that
Noke was trying to produce during this period. There are very few Jade pieces around as it was extremely
difficult to produce and there is no other record of Bonzo being done in this glaze or the other reduction glazes.

A view of the base, showing Doulton's mark and mould number.

 

Style three (small mouth) was produced between 1923-36 as HN805B (blue), HN 808 (yellow with brown spots), HN810 (green) and HN812 (Orange). These were smaller in size, 2 inches, and carried the same mark as Style one.  It is interesting to note that these figures were also produced to be mounted on a base (perhaps as a calendar, ashtray, etc) as  this was common with these small animals produced by Royal Doulton during this period.

 
 

Style four (large mouth with buttons) was produced between 1923-46 (with no production during the war years-WWII) as HN814 (cream with black buttons), HN815 (cream with red buttons), and HN826 (red). All these measured 2 inches in height and were marked with the word 'Doulton' on their base.