HUGH SYKES

In 1993 when I was newly married to my wife Kathy, she introduced me to her Blue Willow collection, which, even at that time, was quite extensive. Living in Australia then, like most collectors we spent many a weekend trawling markets and antique shops searching for new additions to her collection. I say her collection, because at that time I was merely a supportive husband assisting his wife with her collecting passion.

Fast forward to March 1999, in a Sydney antique shop the owner told us about a Willow collecting group in the USA called International Willow Collectors (www.Willowcollectors.org) and that they had an annual convention. Luckily for my wife we were connected to the internet and after some searching she found the club details and yes, there was a convention coming up in July, that year in Richmond, Virginia. We quickly joined the club and booked our trip to Richmond. Prior to the Richmond convention, my thoughts about Willow, were just that of a supportive husband, Richmond changed that. My pre convention thoughts were that this would be a one off trip and that the convention for me would be a boring affair, at least Kathy would be happy. In short we both had such a great time, that by the end of the convention I was already planning our trip to the next annual convention. It was at that convention that I decided to start my own personal Willow collection specialising in advertising pieces. To date, we have attended numerous conventions, not only have we collected some fine Willow pieces, we have also made many great friends.

The legend of the Blue Willow pattern is well known and has been documented by many learned writers such as Connie Rogers. I do not profess to be an expert in the intracies and variations quite often seen in the pattern, instead I have just enjoyed searching for advertising which uses the Willow pattern.  My collection has become extensive and ranges from free media pieces found in newspapers to antique pieces.  In these publications I have catalogued all of the advertising pieces in (mostly) alphabetical order. Where possible I have tried to add some relevant background information to each piece. I would like to thank my wife Kathy who helped me put this publication together. Additionally I would like to thank  Zeke Jiminez, Paul Kirves, Franklin Ladner, Brenda Hoffer, Michael Curtner, Jeff Siptak, Don LaFont, Harry Hall, Brenda Nottingham, Ernie Norris and members of International Willow Collectors who provided additional pieces and information for these publications.

 

The exact origins and who made the first piece of china with the Willow pattern adorning it are still debated by historians of the pattern. I am safe in saying however that in general terms, the pattern originated out of England in the mid to late eighteenth century.

With its birthplace in England, china wares with the Willow pattern soon populated many parts of the world. The popularity of the pattern saw many manufacturers of china use the pattern for their wares and in doing so, they quite often created their own variation of the pattern. Over the years the Willow pattern has become perhaps the most recognised pattern in the world, a pattern that has a legend, history and universal acceptance. It is qualities like these, that advertisers and marketing departments like to associate their products and services with. Therefore it is no surprise that the "Willow pattern brand" has over the past 200 years been used to promote a vast array of products and services. In this book you will see that the pattern has been associated with airlines, beverages, chocolates, cigarettes, souvenirs, restaurants to name a few.

 

In addition to the history of the Willow Pattern, each book has numerous historical stories from the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand. Both books are now held by the National Museum of American History Library at the Smithsonian and other major collections, including the University of Otago and the Marquand Library, Princeton (USA).