Royal Doulton Scotties

Photo: Royal Doulton Scottie figurine. Model no. HN 1281

Inspired by Margaretha Hallerström´s piece in the Swedish Scottie club magazine “Skottenytt” I´m sharing a photo of this Royal Doulton figurine, and a personal story about Royal Doulton figurines in general.

Doulton,one of Britain’s many high-end porcelain factories (sadly very few of these elustrious companies have survived), has produced freestanding figures of dogs since the early 20th century. You probably knew this already. However, what caught my eye in Hallerström´s article was a picture of a Doulton group of a lady sitting with two Scotties.

My grandmother, and especially my mother, collected Doulton figures when I was a child. I was forbidden to touch them. My mother prides herself in that she never ever removed any valuables from any of her reception rooms when her four children grew up. (Hasn’t bringing up children changed a lot since the seventies?). But I was allowed to kiss them. Apparently I was so preoccupied with the beautifully hand finished and hand painted Doulton ladies on mum’s mantelpiece, and on her occasional tables, that I demanded to kiss them! My wishes were granted, as long as I kept my hands on my back! “Please may I kiss the lady, mummy”. 

Now I only kiss my Scotties. And I like it. 

Unfortunately, Doulton figures are so out of fashion at the moment that nobody would want to kiss them. As my mother often says: “They’re not worth anything anymore, and none of my children will want to have them”…

After doing some research (didn’t use to be an antique dealer for nothing) on the figurine with the two Scotties, depicted in the Swedish club magazine , I’ve found out that very few of these figures have been on public sale lately.

In 1992 Christies (London) sold one for GBP 286, -. In 2006 the net-based American auctioneers Liveautioneers.com sold one for around USD 2000, -. The same year Bonham’s (London) had one lot of two figurines (one which was the Scottie figurine) that together had a catalogue estimate of GBP 600-800, -

Obviously very rare figurines still fetch good money, and this is one of them. I’d think the price of this item has decreased, or remained stable, since the aution sales that I have found. This is because of the current economic climate and that Doulton simply isn’t as chic and collectable as it once used to be. (The American price is just crazy). If someone out there has this Scottie figurine in their collection and wants to sell it, please get in touch with me!

PS! Yes, you guessed it: My mum never bought this one!