Maker: Sherwin & Cotton

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Maker: Sherwin & Cotton

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Maker: Brownhills Pottery Co.

Place: Tunstall, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 14 December 1883

Dimensions: Unknown

Maker: Brownhills Pottery Co.

Place: Tunstall, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 14 December 1883

Dimensions: 6 1/2 inches diameter

Maker: Brownhills Pottery Co.

Place: Tunstall, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 14 December 1883

Dimensions: 8 3/8 inches diameter

Maker: Minton & Co.

Pottery: Eldon Place

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 18 March 1870

Dimensions: Unknown

Notes: In 1869, William Stephen Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration. Minton's Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Minton's ceramic ware.

Maker: Minton & Co.

Pottery: Eldon Place

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 18 March 1870

Dimensions: 10 1/2 inches diameter

Notes: In 1869, William Stephen Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration. Minton's Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Minton's ceramic ware.

Maker: Minton & Co.

Pottery: Eldon Place

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 18 March 1870

Dimensions: 9 1/8 inches diameter

Notes: In 1869, William Stephen Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration. Minton's Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Minton's ceramic ware.

Maker: Minton & Co.

Pottery: Eldon Place

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 18 March 1870

Dimensions: 10 1/4 inches diameter

Notes: In 1869, William Stephen Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration. Minton's Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Minton's ceramic ware.

Maker: Minton & Co.

Pottery: Eldon Place

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 18 March 1870

Dimensions: 7 7/10 inches diameter

Notes: In 1869, William Stephen Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration. Minton's Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Minton's ceramic ware.

Maker: Minton & Co.

Pottery: Eldon Place

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 18 March 1870

Dimensions: 10 2/5 inches diameter

Notes: In 1869, William Stephen Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration. Minton's Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Minton's ceramic ware.

Maker: Minton & Co.

Pottery: Eldon Place

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 18 March 1870

Dimensions: 10 1/2 inches diameter

Notes: In 1869, William Stephen Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration. Minton's Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Minton's ceramic ware.

Maker: Minton & Co.

Pottery: Eldon Place

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 18 March 1870

Dimensions: Unknown

Notes: In 1869, William Stephen Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration. Minton's Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Minton's ceramic ware.

Maker: Minton & Co.

Pottery: Eldon Place

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 18 March 1870

Dimensions: 10 1/4 inches diameter

Notes: In 1869, William Stephen Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration. Minton's Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Minton's ceramic ware.

Maker: Minton & Co.

Pottery: Eldon Place

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 18 March 1870

Dimensions: 10 2/5 inches diameter

Notes: In 1869, William Stephen Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration. Minton's Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Minton's ceramic ware.

Maker: Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co.

Pottery: Cauldon Place

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 23 January 1875

Dimensions: 10 inches diameter

Maker: Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co.

Pottery: Cauldon Place

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 23 January 1875

Dimensions: 10 1/2 inches diameter

Maker: Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co.

Pottery: Cauldon Place

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 23 January 1875

Dimensions: 10 inches diameter

Maker: Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co.

Pottery: Cauldon Place

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 23 January 1875

Dimensions: 10 1/2 inches diameter

Maker: Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co.

Pottery: Cauldon Place

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 23 January 1875

Dimensions: 10 1/2 inches diameter

Maker: Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co.

Pottery: Cauldon Place

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 23 January 1875

Dimensions: 10 inches diameter

Maker: Pinder, Bourne & Co.

Pottery: Nile Street Works

Place: Burslem, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 4 August 1880

Dimensions: Unknown

Maker: Steele & Wood

Place: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1874-1900

Dimensions: Unknown

Maker: Elijah Birch

Place: Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: 1882

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Maker: Elijah Birch

Place: Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: 1882

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

Humpty Dumpty dates back to the 18th century. At its origins, it was a riddle and the egg was probably the riddle's answer. In the 17th century, "humpty dumpty" was a slang word used to describe a dull person. The rhyme is as follows: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall/Humpty Dumpty had a great fall/Threescore men and threescore more/Cannot place Humpty as he was before.

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

The original rhyme dates back to the 18th century and different numbers of verses were later added, each with variations in the wording. Throughout the 19th century new versions of the story were written featuring different incidents. The earliest version of the rhyme was in a reprint of John Newbery's Mother Goose's Melody, thought to have been first published in London around 1765.

The rhyme is as follows: Jack and Jill went up the hill/To fetch a pail of water;/Jack fell down and broke his crown,/and Jill came tumbling after./Up Jack got, and home did trot,/As fast as he could caper,/To old Dame Dob, who patched his nob/With vinegar and brown paper.

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

The name Jack Sprat was used of people of small stature in the sixteenth century.^[1] This rhyme was an English proverb from at least the mid-seventeenth century.^[1] It appeared in John Clarke's collection of sayings in 1639

The rhyme is as follows: Jack Sprat could eat no fat./His wife could eat no lean./And so between them both, you see,/They licked the platter clean./Jack ate all the lean,/Joan at all the fat./The bone they picked it clean,/Then gave it to the cat.

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

The earliest record of this rhyme is in a manuscript of around 1805, which contains only the first verse which references the adult Bo Peep , called 'Little' because she was short and not because she was young. The melody commonly associated with the rhyme was first recorded in 1870 by the composer and nursery rhyme collector James William Elliott in his National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs.

The rhyme is as follows: Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,/And can't tell where to find them;/Leave them alone, and they'll come home,/Bringing their tails behind them.

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

First mentioned in the 18th century, it was early associated with acts of opportunism, particularly in politics. The name of Jack Horner also came to be applied to a completely different and older poem on a folkloric theme; and in the 19th century it was claimed that the rhyme was originally composed in satirical reference to the dishonest actions of Thomas Horner in the Tudor period.

The rhyme is as follows: Little Jack Horner/Sat in the corner,/Eating a Christmas pie;/He put in his thumb,/And pulled out a plum,/And said, "What a good boy am I!"

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

The rhyme first appeared in print in Songs for the Nursery (1805) and there have been many variants since. The rhyme is as follows: Little Miss Muffet/Sat on a tuffet,/Eating her curds and whey;/There came a big spider,/Who sat down beside her/And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

The rhyme has been seen as having religious and historical significance, but its origins and meaning are disputed. The oldest known version was first published in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (1744).

The rhyme is as follows: Mistress Mary, Quite contrary,/How does your garden grow?/With Silver Bells, And Cockle Shells,/And so my garden grows.

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

"Old King Cole" is a British nursery rhyme first attested in 1708. Though there is much speculation about the identity of King Cole, it is unlikely that he can be identified reliably as any historical figure. The song is first attested in William King's Useful Transactions in Philosophy in 1708–09.

The rhyme is as follows: Old King Cole was a merry old soul,/And a merry old soul was he;/He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,/And he called for his fiddlers three./Every fiddler he had a fiddle,/And a very fine fiddle had he;/Oh there's none so rare, as can compare,/With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

“The Queen of Hearts” was first published in 1805 by Charles Lamb in his nursery rhyme book and made popular by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (1865). The rhyme is as follows: The Queen of Hearts, / She made some tarts, / All on a summer’s day; / The Knave of hearts, / He stole those tarts, / And took them clean away. / The King of Hearts / Called for the tarts, / And beat the knave full sore; / The Knave of hearts / Brought back the tarts, / And vowed he’d steal no more.

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

"See Saw Margery Daw" is a popular English nursery rhyme, folk song, and playground singing game. The rhyme first appeared in its modern form in Mother Goose's Melody, published in London in around 1765.

The rhyme is as follows: See Saw Margery Daw,/Jacky shall have a new master;/Jacky shall earn but a penny a day,/Because he can't work any faster.

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

The verses used today are the first of a longer chapbook history first published in 1764. The character of Simple Simon may have been in circulation much longer, possibly appearing in an Elizabethan chapbook and in a ballad, Simple Simon's Misfortunes and his Wife Margery's Cruelty, from about 1685.

The rhyme is as follows: Simple Simon met a pieman,/Going to the fair;/Says Simple Simon to the pieman,/Let me taste your ware./Says the pieman to Simple Simon,/Show me first your penny;/Says Simple Simon to the pieman,/Indeed I have not any./Simple Simon went a-fishing,/For to catch a whale;/All the water he had got,/Was in his mother's pail./Simple Simon went to look/If plums grew on a thistle;/He pricked his fingers very much,/Which made poor Simon whistle.^/He went for water in a sieve/But soon it all fell through/And now poor Simple Simon/Bids you all adieu!

Maker: Minton, Hollins & Co.

Place: Stoke, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: c. 1880

Dimensions: 6 x 6 inches

Notes: Designed by John Moyr Smith.

"Sing a Song of Sixpence" is a well-known English nursery rhyme, perhaps originating in the 18th century. The first verse appeared in print in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London around 1744.

The rhyme is as follows: Sing a song of sixpence,/A pocket full of rye./Four and twenty blackbirds,/Baked in a pie./When the pie was opened/The birds began to sing;/Wasn't that a dainty dish,/To set before the king?/The king was in his counting house,/Counting out his money;/The queen was in the parlour,/Eating bread and honey./The maid was in the garden,/Hanging out the clothes,/When down came a blackbird/And pecked off her nose./And shortly after that,/there came a little wren,/As she sat upon a chair,/and put it on again.

Hey, diddle, diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon;

The little dog laughed

To see such sport,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Old Mother Hubbard

Went to the cupboard,

To give the poor dog a bone:

When she came there,

The cupboard was bare,

And so the poor dog had none.