April 28, 2019

Churchill Collectables: The British Bulldog

By BRIAN KRAPF

There are only two known wartime porcelain pieces which portray Winston Churchill as the British bulldog. One was made by Royal Doulton and will be featured in a future article. The other is the one pictured here, which was produced in 1941 by Crown Devon.

Both pieces are rare and always sought by collectors, but in my opinion, the Crown Devon is the better of the two. The piece measures a substantial seven inches long and four inches tall. The bulldog wears a Royal Navy hat, a bowtie, and—naturally—smokes a cigar. Notice, too, that each toe is depicted as a “V.” 

Crown Devon was known as a producer of fine porcelain. Each piece was hand painted by the company’s skilled artisans. While there may be slight variations with each piece produced, the paint scheme is generally consistent. The bulldog is a fine survivor of the war era and its imagery and symbolism are unmistakable.