A glimpse of social history is offered by this scarce and delightful Pair of Mid 19th Century Antique English Victorian Staffordshire Pottery Titled Figures of Street Vendors, "Sand", H a2176 and "Beesums", H a2177, each titled on the base in raised gilt capitals. Highly evocative of the period and in excellent condition, these figures are very rarely met with in today's marketplace, the last pair to have passed through our stock having been sold to an Australian client over twenty years ago.
She stands in front of her mule, wearing a mob cap, blouse, and dress with apron, a bowl in her right hand, her left resting upon a bag of sand on the animal's back. He stands in front of his mule, wearing a hat, long coat, waistcoat, shirt and trousers, his right hand holding two bundles of beesums on the saddle, while two more rest on the ground.
Sizes ~
Sand Vendor ~ Height ~ 20.95 cm. / 8.25 inches ~ Width ~ 20.32 cm. / 8.00 inches ~ Depth ~ 8.25 cm. / 3.25 inches ~ Year ~ Circa 1850
Beesums Vendor ~ Height ~ 22.22 cm. / 8.75 inches ~ Width ~ 20.95 cm. / 8.25 inches ~ Depth ~ 8.89 cm. / 3.50 inches ~ Year ~ Circa 1850
At this period, Staffordshire working class cottages typically were floored with flagstones, as were many shops. These floors, unsurprisingly, accumulated a considerable amount of grease and dirt. Cleaning was normally accomplished by spreading Sand liberally over the flags and then "walking it in" for a few days, after which it was then swept up using a "Beesum" broom and disposed of, leaving the flagstones clean and polished.
The Street Vendors who sold goods often had a "cry" peculiar to their trade, and for the sellers of Sand it was "sanyello" { yellow sand } ~ The animals depicted would have been mules not donkeys, these being the usual beasts of burden employed in The Potteries at that time, regularly used for carrying the loads of clay and silicates to the numerous potters situated in the narrow alleyways and courts that left little room for bulk cartage ~
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