For the uninitiated fairings are small, brightly colored porcelain figural groups, mounted on rectangular bases and usually about 4in long and tall. With more than 400 different figures recorded, fairings depict amusing, cheeky, charming, or newsworthy subject matter and were popular in Britain from the 1850s until the early 20th century. Some had practical uses like trinket boxes, watch stands, match strikers or holders, but most were simply decorative. As their name suggests, fairings were sold or given away as prizes at fairs, or sold as souvenirs at holiday resorts. The word ’fairing’ may be a shortening of "fair earning" for a task well performed, and the fairing itself the reward for a victory in fairground competitions

Very little information exists about fairings and their manufacturers, possibly because when they were made they were regarded as disposable rather than as items to be cherished and passed on as heirlooms, pretty much as cheap and gimmicky china or plastic figurines are today. Consequently, little notice of their provenance was taken, but what we lack in factual information about fairings has been more than compensated for in hearsay. For such a small item as a fairing, the misinformation that has sprung up around it is surprising. Resolution of a few of these hoary old chestnuts is a must in order to set the record straight so that fairings can be appreciated for what they actually represent.

It’s unusual to begin the examination of an antique by what it’s not, but such a strange means of examination befits the fairing.

First of all let’s make it clear that fairings were never made in Staffordshire. Not only were the types of clay used for the two different types of figures very different – Staffordshire figures were predominantly made from pottery, while fairings were made from porcelain – the way they were molded was also different. Staffordshire figures are hollow, whereas early fairings are solid. Although there were some very small Staffordshire figures produced, they were usually larger and lighter in weight than fairings. Fairings were usually titled with a pithy humorous quip; this was never the practice with Victorian Staffordshire figures. Fairings were first made by the German companies of Springer and Oppenheim of Loket in Bohemia and, after about 1850, by Conta & Boehme of Possnek for the British market. The most popular theory for this miss-attribution involves two World Wars. During and after World Wars I and II, German wares fell into disfavor, but products from England were popular. Ceramics from the Staffordshire region were particularly appreciated and, since fairings needed a more appealing description to assist with their sales the term "Staffordshire" was substituted to hide their real history. It was a description acceptable for the times and, unfortunately, it stuck, subsequently confusing collectors for decades.

Another misconception is that all fairings have comic subject matter. Although most groups are humorous, some mid-Victorian examples depict statesmen, or scenes from the Crimean and Franco-Prussian Wars. Many of the inspirations for fairings also came from printed sources such as sheet music covers; for example Champagne Charlie is My Name represents the comic actor George Leybourne performing the song in the 1860s.

By the Edwardian period, when the popularity of fairings was in decline and their makers were looking for more respectable markets, sentimentality was substituted for ribaldry. Angelic looking children and wee animals became popular mantel fillers, joining the traditional fairing retinue of buxom beauties, outraged fathers, henpecked husbands, timid newlyweds, and old lechers – all caught in bawdy comic vignettes. Fairings often have painted titles and sometimes come in pairs such as ’before’ and ’after’ scenes, but the move to politically correct subject matter made even these titles transform from the risqué and ribald to the respectable.

The popular belief that fairings were restricted to figural groups is incorrect, as they came in a variety of forms to serve a variety of applications. Although figures were the most widely produced and popular, fairing boxes, in the shape of bureaus and dressing tables and other types of furniture, were also produced. Such boxes came in a wide range of styles and with an almost infinite range of subjects decorating their lids. These boxes sometimes incorporated an ornate gilded frame on the back of their lids that would have originally held a mirror. Boxes with identical subjects and styles could come in several different sizes – three different sizes were most common, but some fairing boxes have been found in up to nine different sizes.

These trinket boxes also came as "figurals:" full figures that separate at the waist to form a box; half bodies that separate between the head and shoulder; and pedestal figures where the whole figure acts as the lid, and the base as stand. Fairings boxes also came as inkwells with covered bases containing inkpots and sanders, as figural perfume bottles, and as match strikers with ribbed or roughened surfaces for striking.

Yet another mistake made in the realms of fairing collecting is to refer to them as "patch boxes." It is very unlikely that these boxes were ever intended for patches, tiny pieces of black silk worn to hide blemishes like pockmarks or to heighten beauty. Patches were kept in tiny boxes known as boites-a-mouches and were popular during the reign of Louis XIV. Patches disappeared from fashion nearly 150 years before the emergence of fairings, so their role as patch boxes is therefore highly unlikely.

It’s also a mistake to consider that all fairings were created equal. Early figures by Conta & Boehme are of far superior quality to those of their later competitors. Conta & Boehme had perfected cheap mass production to such a level that British and rival German manufacturers could not compete so they held the lucrative fairing market in a near strangle-hold until the 1890s.

Prior to 1870, Conta & Boehme pieces were not marked. Examples produced after this time can be identified from either an impressed or raised mark depicting an enclosed shield decorated with a raised arm wielding a sword. From the 1890s, the shield mark was printed and the words Made in Germany were added to the base along with a four-digit impressed or incised design number from 2850-2899, or from 3300-3385. Some Conta & Boehme fairings do, however, appear with numbers outside these sequences.

The popularity of fairings led to their mass production in factories apart from those of Conta & Boehme. By the 1890s rival potteries in Saxony had flooded the market with garish over-gilded examples that bore no maker’s mark and were simply stamped Made in Germany. Compared to those produced by Conta & Boehme, these fairings were smaller, hollow, flat-based, and poorly modeled and painted. Captions became more banal and lost their humorous edge.

Barbara Gair of Castle Antiques is one of the world’s foremost dealers in fairings. She has collected and sold fairings for nearly 30 years. During this time she has seen some astounding changes to the fortunes of the fairing.

Author’s note: Barbara Gair is based at Leigh-on-Sea in Essex in the United Kingdom and may be contacted through her website at www.barbaragair.com/index.htm.