arrangement of items colored and blue transferware
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Rabbitware: Rabbits Playing Baseball

RabbitwareRabbitware, an uncommon transferware genre, was produced around the turn of the 20th century (some patterns possibly earlier) for the American market (as exemplified by eBay offerings only from American sellers, and a printed mark indicating Smith Patterson Company, a Boston importer). It is a combination of transfer printing and stick sponge with hand painting. Forms produced include (primarily) plates, chargers, (rarely) oval platters, and (rarely) mugs, small jugs and a few additional, miscellaneous, forms. There are four pattern categories or series. Two series are anthropomorphic: Sports (including this example, Rabbits Playing Baseball, one of six in the Sports series), and Vignette. The two additional, much more common series, are Border Rabbits and Center Rabbits (both series commonly including frogs!). We’ll post examples of each series over following months. The maker of the Sports Series is William Baker & Co, High Street, Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent (1839 - 1932), identified by the registration number shown on the reverse. This example is Rabbits Playing Baseball; each of the six Sports Series patterns dates 1905, as identified by its registration number. The maker(s) of the other three series is (are) unknown, as the wares are never marked. The TCC Database of Patterns and Sources currently documents 12 Rabbitware patterns (simply search under “rabbitware”, with more (including the example shown herein) due to be recorded. For more information, view the DB records and an introductory article on the subject by Siddall and Hoexter in the 2010 Vol. XI no. 1 TCC Bulletin, available to download at https://www.transferwarecollectorsclub.org/bulletin_previews/articles/2010_Winter_TCCBulletin_Feature.pdf.