Wade Miniatures: An Unauthorized Guide to Whimsies, Premiums, Villages, and Characters, 2nd Revised Edition

by Donna S. Baker

In business under a variety of names since the mid-nineteenth century, the George Wade pottery in Burslem, England, has produced many forms of ceramic items. Wade is perhaps best known, however, for their delightful series of tiny porcelain animals known as Whimsies. Highly collectible, the Whimsies have been joined over the years by many equally charming miniatures, some sold by the company directly and others distributed as premiums. With over 370 color photos clearly showing over 1,000 items, this book showcases the endearing miniatures produced by Wade from the 1950s to the 1990s, including Red Rose Tea and Tom Smith premiums, Whoppas and Whimsie-land figurines, Nursery Favourites, Happy Families, Disney's Hat Box series, the diminutive Minikins, and many more. Also featured are Wade's highly detailed miniature villages--from England's Whimsey-on-Why to Ireland's Bally-Whim--original Wade boxes and displays, information on color and size variations, company marks, and up-to-date values for all items. A treat for Wade lovers everywhere!

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2000

Reviews

[AuntieErrica (audiobooks=life) · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2023 this book is dated but I still found it helpful and informative for my collection. My grandmother started my Red Rose Tea Wade collection when I was a small child and I continue it today at 33-years-old. The difficulty is finding a good reference for what pieces I am missing. Thankfully books like this exist. Even though this one has the Red Rose whimsies ending with the Noah’s Ark series when they are now on the 2020 World Monument series (after several series in between), I can use the book to fill in the holes in my mid-1900s collections. I also enjoyed looking at all of the other Wade figurines outside of Red Rose promotional pieces. I will be expanding my Wade collection now. More to the point of a book review, I found it well-written, deeply researched, and extremely helpful. It was also highly affordable compared to newer editions, which is a noteworthy highlight, in my opinion.