Zandra Rhodes and Royal Albert (Albany??)

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Zandra Rhodes and Royal Albert (Albany??)

by Kevin Mawby
(UK)

I am struggling to find someone who could value a broken statue that can not be replaced. The item is an Albany china figurine designed by Zandra Rhodes (around 1991) name of piece is Cream Lily, it is a limited edition of 250 when it was given as a gift in 1991 I believe it cost between £400 and £500.

Kevin Mawby

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Reply by Peter (admin)

Nice query from Kevin on Zandra Rhodes and Royal Albert (Albany??). Thanks.

Before I reply, some general china antiquing tips:-

If you are thinking of maybe selling your stuff at sometime in the future and want to get the best possible price, I recommend you get a certified appraisal – it particularly helps on ebay where people are not able to inspect the items, and therefore have to take your word for it.

Q. “HOW do I get one of those?!!”

A. By far the quickest, easiest & cheapest way is to contact www.figurines-sculpture.com/whats-it-worth.

An appraisal only costs about a fiver (GBS), and for the cost of a couple of coffees, you will get a higher price for your wares, simply because they are certified genuine. They can authenticate your wares, and also tell you what all the small artist squiggles and date marks mean.

With 9 queries out of 10, I can point visitors in the right direction, but I can’t appraise value or authenticate.

Also, the other thing budding china antiquers need to know about is this ebook – much more efficient than carrying around lots of heavy books!! Have it on your laptop and it will save you time, money and effort - and show you how to earn a few bob whilst having fun (like a mobile library).

'How To Buy & Sell Antiques For Fun & Profit'.

Check it out here:

www.figurines-sculpture.com/buy-and-sell-antiques-for-fun

Now onto the query……

Hi Kevin

Sounds like you have a nice item. I am not familiar with a well known maker called Albany. However, I do happen to know that Zandra Rhodes has been associated with Royal Albert for many years. Perhaps that was a typo on your part?

I would be interested to see this item. It would be great if you could send in photos. I think it is quite unusual and rare.

Royal Albert is a part of the Wedgwood Waterford group based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. If you were to contact them they may well have records of the figurine in question.

You can go to my China Replacement page and follow the instructions on how to search for more Zandra Rhodes Royal Albert wares online.

Alternatively, you could get an insurance valuation from Whats-it-worth.

Hope this helps

Peter (admin)

Comments for
Zandra Rhodes and Royal Albert (Albany??)

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Albany Fine China Company
by: R. Craig

Albany Fine China Company, Worcester England produced very beautiful porcelain sculptures, one of which (I was told) was a life-size peacock which stood at the entrance of the Peacock Room in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Some pieces incorporated porcelain, copper, crystal and fine wood.

In 1985 we purchased a beautifully detailed and quite large, numbered piece entitled "Arctic Tern" (modeler was David Burnham Smith).
I also have pieces from the "Roaring Twenties" series, and "Flower Girl" series.
I am most interested in learning the present value of these pieces.

R. Craig

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Reply by Peter (admin)

Dear R. Graig

Thank you so much for your information. The clues you gave me enabled me to find some further information about this relatively recently founded maker.

I followed the method outlined in my China Replacement page and found a small fairy figure which was at a £65 'buy it now price', but was actually sold for £35 'best offer'. Their wares seem to be few and far between online.

[Albany Fine China]

Founded in 1972, Albany closed in 2004.

In 1987 Albany Fine China was bought out by cottage makers Lilliput Lane. They took manufacturing up to Stoke-on-Trent. The company were employing 175 people and made mainly fantasy wares.

Lilliput Lane sold Albany Fine China in 1990.

Thanks for your insights

Peter (admin)

Albany China - Company Formation
by: Anonymous

The Albany China Company was formed by David Palmer, Bill Nichols and David Lovegrove in Worcester- the Lowesmore area- in 1974. All pevioulsy worked at Royal Worcester Porcelain.

Albany Zandr Rhodes
by: Anonymous

I have been collecting Albany Fine China for the last 20 years.Mainly on the secondary market and sales.A lot of people think it was a subsidiary company of Royal Worcester but it wasn't it was just made in Worcester.The factory opened in 1972 and all the artists,sculptors etc were ex Royal Worcester workers.In fact there were more employed at Albany at that time than Royal Worcester.The time and effort that went into making the pieces was uneconomical and eventually they couldn't compete with the cheaper resin models which of course were no where near the quality and fineness of Albany.The figurines,animals and birds could not be matched by Royal Worcester.For example the Worcester flowers were a lot thicker.Some of the Albany flowers on the Flower girl figures are nearly paper thin.I have a 1989 and a 1991 brochure which was the last to be issued.After that they issued A4 colour sheets.If anyone has any questions about figure editions etc I will try to help.Albany only sold via one retail outlet per town or city so it is not that well known about.Finding information is really difficult.I have 3 Zandra Rhodes figures and they are from a set of 6 Limited edition of only 250 each figure I can tell you they retailed at £539.50 in 2001 as I also have a price list.They eventually closed early 2005.

Albany Zandra Rhodes
by: Anonymous

Try DG CHINA online for china insurance quotes. David used to sell Albany and specializes in tracking down replacement pieces on behalf of insurance company claims. He travels up and down the country until he finds what he is looking for and he also delivers.

Albany Greyhounds
by: Doug

I was browsing in a fine china outlet in Kings Lynn, England, around 1988-9 looking for greyhounds to add to my collection. The manager showed me the Albany catalogue and in it was a magnificent pair of running greyhounds. Which I ordered at a cost of around £750 ($1400 then). The front greyhound was painted to your photos of your own dog, mine was a brindle and white bitch. The finished article, about 14" long, was magnificent, the manager offered me £1000 on the spot. But I still have them. It was a limited edition and mine was No 100 of 250 - they changed the picture in the catalogue to mine after that !!
Heres the interesting bit.
The Waco dog museum must have ordered one of these sculptures after that - and not having pics of their own, got MY DOG(S) !!
They can still be seen among the pics on their website !!
These dogs are generally unique, I wonder what they are worth now after 20 years ???

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Peter (admin) says:-

Doug

What a great story!

Just the sort we like here on this site. Thanks.

If you had any links to the site, maybe you could post them here so we can all see your magnificent dogs!

If you asked Whats-it-Worth for an opinion they would probably be able to give you an anticipated auction price as well as retail/insurance value. They also issue certificates if you are thinking of selling - which are particularly useful for online auction selling.

Albany Greyhounds Link
by: Anonymous

Here's the link www.antiquibles.com
Bottom row, third in - the front dog of the pair was Ardra Queen, my greyhound, who raced and won at Swaffham, Peterborough and Wisbech UK. (Born Nov 1986, Father was Dipmac, Irish Greyhound Derby winner, mother Kartain)

Sadly the thumbnail doesn't open !!

Kind regards to all Albany collectors - there isn't enough to go around !!

Doug

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Peter (admin) says:-

Thanks for the link, Doug. Great artwork, great dogs. There must be a fair value to these.

The thumb opened fine in my browser (Firefox - tip:- never use Internet Explorer - its a rubbish bit of kit).

Peter

Albany China and Bronze flowers
by: Parnham

I have in the last 2 years purchased 2 Albany chins and Bronze Flowers Snowdrops and Daffodils, Then an Yellow Iris, I think these are lovely.

I read through the comments left by others on this site, There was a life size Albany and Bronze Peacock on Ebay in the last couple of months, from memory it was up for over £5,000, it didn't sell but it looked fantastic, apparently only 25 0f these were made. Information on Albany is very sparse.

I found this site by looking for an Albany catalogue, just hoping in time I find some more of these fantastic flowers, I have no idea what they are worth!

I was an artist at Albany
by: Anonymous

I fell into this site on an idle afternoon. I worked at Albany Fine China in their heyday in the 1970s and 80s, as a painter, gilder and in concept development. There are a few inacurracies from posts, but I'm delighted that so many of you hold our work in such esteem. The old factory is still there (well, it was a year or so back) and Royal Worcester, where I carried out my apprenticeship, has been razed. Models I worked on included the Flower Fairies, County Birds, songbirds, dogs, horses, 20s Girls, Women walking animals (Borzoi, a pather etc - can't remember what they were called). I was due to start development work on the Zandra Rhodes figures but there was a delay and left soon after. There were only 6-8 painters at any one time, the flower maker worked from home and we had around 4 casters. I realise now how privileged I was to work with some of the UKs finest craftspeople, and we were all so young!

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Peter (admin) says:

Nice post. Tell us more about your Worcester and Staffordshire days if you have another idle afternoon, please.

Peter

Albany fine china 'deco' figurines
by: scollinsent@charter.net

Looking to amplify my 'collection' of 2 Albany Fine China figurines of women (Zara and Zena by Gregory Rose) which I found in an antique shop in Seattle, Washington, USA about 15 years ago. Or other series - the ladies with animals referred to above sounds good. Oct, 2010 posting

Manhattan and Montmatre lady figurines
by: B Hindle

I have the two figurines which I believe are part of a set of six such ladies purchased in the 60's/early 70's signed Albany England

Manhattan/Montmartre
by: Anonymous

If you're interested in selling you could send photos to me at my email address in the post prior to yours

Zandra Rhodes
by: Kate

Hi

I was lucky enough to work at Albany for a while and manage the shop, so I can tell you that these figurines certainly were in the region of £400-£500 at the time.

Good luck!

Regards

Kate

Albany roaring 20's
by: peggy

Hi I have 5 figures with bronze attachments one sitting in a car with her scarf flowing Isadora like , one in beach wear against a bronze pier I love them . then today at an antique centre I spotted 2 others , limited editions with certs I didn't buy them but my daughter has urged me to go back for them , I think I might

Albany Fine China and Royal Worcester
by: Vivienne Jones

Many years ago I lived in the Malvern area and knew the group who started Albany Fine China. All three of the men were indeed former WRPCo employees. Bill Nicholls, David Palmer and David Lovegrove. Lovegrove was the only modeller and Palmer was a mouldmaker I believe. The late 60's and early 70's saw a number of people branch out on their own, starting with Ronald Van Ruyckevelt, who had a studio in Malvern. Then Albany was created and Terry & Diane Lewis (they were married then) along with Ricky Lewis started up a studio for Edward Marshall Boehm..also in Malvern.

Last I heard most of the businesses were eventually bought out and the characters, and they were all characters, moved away, mostly abroad. Henry Sandon who was curator of the Worcester Porcelain Co. museum is still alive and appears from time to time on the Antiques Road Show. He would certainly know what happened to these people and the value of their work.

I have an Albany pointer dog. modelled by Neal Campbell and a beautiful study of the champion Mill Reef which I believe was sculpted by David Lovegrove. There was also a series of small birds on ormolu stems that were given to my children over the years by Albany.

Those were very interesting years to have been involved in the porcelain industry in Worcester, full of intrigue......quite fascinating.

Albany of Worcester ad their history
by: Peter (admin)

Hi Vivienne

Many thanks for that lovely background story, your contribution is very much appreciated.

My thoughts were turned to the fact that at that time, of course, the fantastic institution that was Royal Worcester was still going strong as the oldest porcelain factory in the UK (to the annoyance of all those potbanks in Staffordshire).

It was this giant of the ceramic arts in world history spawned Albany, just as they gave birth to Grainger and all the other important offshoots over the two and a half centuries of trade.

I still have to pinch myself that this factory, a part of the history and the very fabric of the UK, has been allowed just to disappear without even a whimper. I want to blame someone for this. I want to rail at poor management that allowed this to happen (the people who were more interested in property development than ceramic production because that gave them better bonuses). I want to shout at the politicians who allowed this to happen. In the big scheme of things, this hasn't happened in Germany or France, or even Russia after the dissolution of the CCCP. Royal Worcester is now just a brand, a label, a company in name only, not a factory, and is owned by a the old enemy - a big firm in Staffordshire.

I have a studio in Worcester and am developing some collections which I would have been developing had I been design director of Royal Worcester before they closed. All I was within Worcester was a modeller who did figures for them under the Compton and Woodhouse banner, so I wasn't in a position to tell them what to do.

My new collection will be sold online through my studio collective called 'The UK Figurine Collective' and the Worcester Studio ware has the working title 'Worcester Pearlware' (it will be a type of bone china using an oxide glaze to give a look of the old Royal Worcester Pearlware). The figures will be in a charming modern naive style which look to the style of Rye Potteries or the old flatbacks or Russian Gzhel folk-art ceramics (not to mention the famous arts & crafts Wiener Werkstätte Studios of the early 20th Century in Vienna).

So the influence of Worcester as a ceramic art tradition is still going strong, I am glad to report.

Peter (admin)

Albany of England figurine
by: Lisa

I have a figure of a lady dressed in sailor dress and hat. She is leaning on a brass rail with a safety ring behind her. Think maybe she is on a ship. I was bought this figure as a wedding gift and am now trying to find a little out about her. It is marked Albany of England on the brass.

So anyone who may be able to enlighten me on this figure I would be grateful

Lisa

Albany items
by: Anonymous

I have recently inherited a number of Albany Fine China items including various race horses (one is Red Rum), a number of porcelain and bronze flowers and figurines. All are in fantastic condition and like many people; I am trying to find information about their value/history. Some may eventually be for sale... contact - kellyhawkins65@hotmail.com

arab stallion
by: Anonymous

i have just inherited a perfect condition statue - arab stallion by david lovegrove, albany fine china. Wondering how much it would be worth?

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