Everyone knows whimsies, they may not always know Wade but they usually know whimsies, those small porcelain figures of animals, birds, mammals, reptiles etc. which fell from christmas crackers or were given away with tea and toothpaste and were as popular with children in their heyday as Pokemon or Star Wars are today . They were sold in most tobacconists and newsagents in colourful little boxes for around 15 pence each from the mid fifties to the mid eighties.

William Harper only worked for Wade for a period of nine years, from 1953 until 1962 but during that relatively short time produced some of the most sort after pieces to come out of the Wade factories

During the late 1950′s, the highly prestigious Hagen-Renaker Pottery of San Dimas, California, produced the most stunning plaques and wall hanging figures which covered a variety of subjects from butterflies, horses, fish and a bison to still life. All were produced in the usual Hagen-Renaker earthenware.