As rare as it gets!

Not a bird: but Linda and my other little obsession! When we were married twenty two years ago, times were pretty tough: to pay for the wedding, I sold all my antiquarian books and Linda parted with her collection of Wade porcelain figures.

Not to be confused with the little 'Whimsies' that can still be found in Christmas crackers, these were highly collectable British porcelain made in the fifties, sixties and seventies: some are legendarily hard to find, having been made in minute quantities!

Well: it's taken a long time, but, by scouring junk shops, collectors' fairs and internet auctions, we've now rebuilt the collection of most of the rarest sets: just two or three more to go. This is lucky, because we've more or less run out of room to display them!