The Gainsborough Lady - a photo on Flickriver

            A few months ago, I obtained some lovely pieces of vintage and antique haberdashery notions from a contact of mine in Dorset who seems to always find me interesting pieces.  Amongst the items that caught my eye were this wonderful half-doll, who reminded me rather of a Gainsborough lady with her picture hat decorated with bows and cascades of hair.  I also aquired a rather lovely wooden reel of russet coloured file silk substitute cotton made by the British Thread Company from the same supplier at the same time, which I have placed alongside the half-doll.  The tiny, dainty buttons in the forefront of the picture are made of Bakelite and are hand painted with pink roses.  The roses are a material flower corsage from the 1930s or 1940s.   The silver thimble was made by Charles Horner in Chester in 1905.

The "half-doll" is a dainty porcelain or bisque figurine, fashionable in the early Twentieth Century with an upper body, head, arms, but usually no legs.  These dolls were produced in the thousands at the height of their popularity by German factories such as Dressel and Kister, Heubach, Goebel and Kestner.  Later they were produced in France, America and later still, in Japan.  They commonly served as handles and toppers for fabric covers made for powder boxes on ladies’ dressing tables and small brushes, however they were also made for jewellery boxes, pincushions, tea cosies and other covers.  In this case, my German half-doll is dressed in romantic Eighteenth Century style dress, so I imagine that she would have been made for a lady’s boudoir and was most likely the topper for a powder bowl or even a powder puff.  She has been hand painted, and what is unusual about her is that she is painted with lustre paint.  She is the only one I have come across like this before.      

The thimble at the front of the image, near the pink fabric rose is sterling silver.  It was made by the famous silversmith firm Charles Horner in Chester in 1905.  It is more unusual than many thimbles with a pierced cast bright cut border.  Charles Horner was born in 1837 in Yorkshire.   Born to a local weaver in Ovenden, his business was founded in the 1860s in Halifax. Although the company was known for producing a wide range of jewellery and silver objects, they were particularly recognised for their Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau enamelled pendants. Although Charles died before the turn of the century, his company continued to flourish under the stewardship of his sons.  Thanks to them, it survived both World Wars, and continued producing jewellery until the mid 1980s.  Charles Horner of Halifax, first grew to notoriety due to the development of the ‘Dorcas’ thimble, which was patented in 1884. Dorcas thimbles differed from the ones made before as they had a layer of reinforced steel in between the decorated silver shell.  Prior to this, thimbles were often made of a softer silver that did not stop sewing needles from pricking the skin. The Dorcas thimble was incredibly popular.  Although the company also produced traditional silver hallmarked thimbles and jewellery, the Dorcas thimble was most likely the innovation that earnt the company acclaim and allowed them to expand. Charles Horner of Halifax continued to produce thimbles until 1947. 

The International Thread Company Ltd., were thread manufacturers in Leicester, and included the company the British Thread Company.  The International Thread Company was incorporated with limited liability in January 1926 , with a registered office at New Bridge Street, Leicester and a capital of £5,000.00. The directors were Arthur Grieves, John Kay and Harry Wright. In November 1934, the capital was increased to £10,000.00 by creating five thousand new shares at £1.00 each. Over the following years various shareholders transferred their shares to J & P Coats Ltd, thread manufacturers, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, with J & P Coats Ltd transferring some of those to Kerr & Co Ltd, cotton manufacturers and selling agents, Paisley. By 1955 , Kerr & Co Ltd were the controlling company. In 1942, The International Thread Co Ltd bought shares in Jumna Thread Mills Ltd, Bombay, India, which they transferred to J & P Coats Ltd in 1951. The company purchased African Sewing Cotton Co Ltd in 1943 and transferred it to J & P Coats Ltd in 1955. In 2002, The International Thread Co Ltd was still an active company, based at Stockley Park, Uxbridge.

Taken on: March 1, 2025

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Sets appears in: • Collectables • Ribbons, Lace and Notions

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/2.8, 1/500 sec, 6.2mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	6.2mm
ISO:	80
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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