John Bunyan & Sam Weller - Osborne Ivorex Rare Collectible Plaque

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

John Bunyan & Sam Weller - Osborne Ivorex Rare Collectible Plaque:
$0.99

You are offerding on the following Osborne Wall Plaques:
John Bunyan
Sam Weller
Please review all photos before purchasing. Items will be carefully packaged to ensure safe transport. If you have any questions please let me know.
More chalkware available at:http://stores..com/refam

Ivorex plaques were made in Faversham, Kent, England at 83 Abbey Street between 1899 and 1965 by the B. Osborne Company, founded by Arthur Osborne, the inspired sculptor of the incredible art that he named Ivorex.

Arthur Osborne was born in England on the 13th of August 1855, as Arthur Monk, in Ospringe Street, in the village of Ospringe, Faversham Kent, he was the son of a bookseller / printer and having shown artistic talents in his early years, attended South Kensington School, which at the time was considered to be one of the best in the country for art subjects. The family name was changed to Osborne at some time during the late 1860s, and in the mid 1870\'s Arthur Osborne, as he was now known, emigrated, first to Canada, then on to the United States of America, where he settled in Boston Massachusetts and found a job working for the J. and J.G.Low Art Tile Company. Here he became their top designer of low relief tiles and it was upon these tiles that the AO mark of Arthur Osborne first appeared. Having married in Boston he eventually returned to England in 1898 and started the manufacture of what was to become known as Osborne Ivorex. What was to rapidly expand into plaques, free standing shelf pieces, calendar holders and eventually figurines started off life as plastic sketches, these were free standing sculptures in three dimensional relief that depicted scenes such as The Old Curiosity Shop. The name \"Plastic Sketch\" was derived from the plastic term for clay when it can be carved and moulded to shape. These plastic sketches soon gave way to the more familiar plaques that were to form the basis for a thriving Faversham industry.

Arthur Osborne created the highly detailed master plaques in clay often using picture postcards from locations all over the world as his reference source, some of these cards can still be found today and show the incredible attention to detail that was maintained by Arthur Osborne. This master plaque was then used to create the gelatine moulds into which would be poured the finest plaster of Paris from Newark-on-Trent. The plaster of Paris would be brought in by the sackful and in some cases mixed with an ochre coloured pigment to add some base colour to the pure white plaster, this was sifted to remove all traces of lumps before mixing with water to a cream like consistency that would be poured into several moulds at a time, bubbles would be skimmed from the top and the plaques left to harden.

Once removed from the moulds the plaques were air dried in a heated room and then hand finished and painted by young Faversham girls using water colours, junior girls would do the simpler tasks but for highly detailed work the items were passed on to the more experienced women for completion, once the painting part of the process had dried the plaques were dipped in hot paraffin wax to give them their characteristic Ivory like finish. This was then buffed to a shine, brass eyelet rings and cords for hanging were fitted to the backs and they were then packed ready for shipping. During the war years when brass eyelets became difficult to obtain Osborne used steel eyelets in their place but these have tended to rust over the passage of time and can show through the face of a plaque as a dark stain. Special custom made cardboard boxes were made to pack the plaques in and these usually have the plaque title and production number printed on the edge, these boxes added a couple of pence to the overall cost.

Some of the plaques were put into purpose built black lacquered frames complete with a dark velvet slip that added even more depth to the scenes depicted. The frames differ in moulding types and range from one inch wide to two inches wide and can be found both with and without velvet slips and could also be purchased without glass. Some frames were made with a wood effect lacquer using the same mouldings but with the different finish. Even odd shape plaques like the five sided Canterbury Pilgrim types were sometimes framed utilizing the velvet slip to accommodate the awkward shape.

The titles on the plaques were inscribed in the style of Arthur Osborne by Walter Davis who was also the expert in charge of the shading and painting of each piece and had worked for A. Osborne since 1910. These plaques were trade named \"Ivorex\" and copyrighted throughout the world, although copied by others the same quality was not achieved. One of the main, and closest in style of the imitators was \"IvorArt\" who produced small plaques in a very similar style to Osborne but tending to portray different scenes rather than direct copies, compared side by side with Ivorex there is no contest, the quality of Arthur Osbornes skill shows through. The Ivorex items covered many subjects, notably Cathedrals, Churches and famous places as well as people, both historical and fictional, these creations were then sold as tourist souvenirs. Arthur Osborne exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1899, these were three pieces desribed as \'Reliefs\' and entitled \'Reading\', \'Writing\' and \'Arithmetic\'. He also exhibited and sold his wares at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924. Plaques sold at this exhibition had a special paper label attached to the back indicating the place and date of purchase. But the vast majority of production was sold via small retailers, Osborne would obtain photographs or postcards of Cathedrals or places of interest such as Exeter, create plaques depicting the scene and then supply the retailers in the area the finished articles for sale in their shops.