Figurines
We are not too sure of the actual date of manufacture for the first Dickens character figurines but it must have been very late 1930’s or very early 1940’s because although Arthur Osborne made a start on creating these pieces, he did not live to finish them, having died in 1942.
Just how many figurines, and of which characters, Arthur Osborne intended to create is open to conjecture. However, if we take a look at Osborne’s oval plaques featuring Dickens characters, one could easily make a list of eighteen.
Unfortunately, whatever the intended total, only ten were made. Two of these never made it into production – one was a prototype of Mr. Micawber which was eventually produced in a different design, and the other was Mrs. Bardell (an example of which is in the Faversham Museum).
A seemingly odd character is that of a Welsh Woman. This was created after Arthur Osborne’s death by Walter Davis to see if he could create figures to match Osborne’s and thus add to the set. This turned out to be the only addition to the existing set of eight pieces. Many of the nine piece set were made, each was individually boxed, and all of the remaining staff at the closure of the company in 1964 had a set of each.
