[APOLOGIES – UNDER RE-CONSTRUCTION]
Background
This site provides an exhaustive view of the african-style, black vintage chalkware figurines (like plaster of paris) figurines, ornamental lamps, busts and wall plaques that were produced by a number of designers, predominantly based in London and Manchester in England, in the mid-century time period of the 1950s and 1960s (possibly longer). There are a high percentage of Italian-born designers that immigrated to England and formed companies to design, manufacture and sell these pieces. If you want to know more about what chalkware is, see this page on how it is made.
There are also a lot of mid-century modern pieces made in the United States and I have tried to collect links to other websites that have examples of wall plaques and vintage chalkware figurines from those manufacturers. Some chalkware is still being produced today.
UK Focused
This site has the most information on designers of chalkware figurines that were based in the UK. History shows that the pottery industry was mainly based around Staffordshire, but mid-century chalkware seems to focus around East London and Manchester, with a number of key chalkware designers of Italian descent.
Click here for maps showing where the designers were based for either London or Manchester. Note: the sandy coloured flags are the Service Addresses used by the designers. Some of these were running for decades and it is not always clear to see when they stopped trading or what else they decided to do.
Duron – Made In England
My main focus is on a brand name registered as “Duron” with the words MADE IN ENGLAND on a small sticker with gold writing on a black background underneath them. Duron also had a system of internal product numbers. It also covers other key individuals / companies such as Bacci, Nieri, Paoli Bros and Lohnberg before they used the Duron name. The research is mainly limited to UK and Europe, but I am starting to find more brand names and producers in the USA and Australia, and you will find them in the directory.
Over the course of about a decade, 600 figurine and wall plaque designs were registered. The key “players” are shown below.
There is also a huge collection of chalkware wall plaques by Bossons that you can find at Bossons.com that are very collectible.
Data Sources
This site is a collection of data from a number of online sites including Pinterest, Etsy, Facebook, the Worthpoint site as well as Ebay PicClick and fellow collectors sending in images. All the physical legwork took place in the National Archives in Kew Gardens, London where the originals of the BT – Records of the Board of Trade are found. A fascinating read with a few hours/days to spare.
To my knowledge there are no original sites or books published that detail the life of these mid-century figurines and wall plaques and the two people that registered the Duron designs, Max Löhnberg and Herbert Hermann Louis Löhnberg.
Our Collection
My wife has been collecting chalkware figurines for over 25 years, starting with a Bossons piece. At last count (December 2025) she is over the 110 mark, predominantly as figurines with only a handful of wall plaques and lamps. They now take up new space in a library.
None of our pieces have been restored, but you can find a few keen amateurs (I would say professionals) who have done some amazing repairs. Check out the Collectors Corner for more information.
Ongoing Research
My research is never complete, but I hope that people find this figurine site useful and can discover what is in their collection. If you come across other sites that have more research material, do let me know as I would be pleased to give them a link from my site.
If you have any questions, pictures from your own collection, or details on any of the figurines (especially DURONs), please get in touch!
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