Getting Real Beswick Flying Ducks
On launch day for Getting Real I got the ducks hung.
Bought these ducks while on the family holiday from hell – the one where everyone fought, and we all went our separate ways in the house where water leaked and puddled, fleas jumped and bit, and the driveway was so steep you needed cleats on your thongs to transverse it.
Yeah – that holiday.
I found the ducks at an annual antique fair. I thought they were a wee bit expensive. There was an argument – which in hindsight I should’ve expected – because hey, it was my fault it was hot in the hall where the fair was being held, so I was abandoned while my travelling companions went to ‘wait in the car’. Obvious code for ‘why are we here, I’m bored, can we go now’.
I almost abandoned the ducks. I did in fact trudge back to the car, where no surprises another argument was taking place. Since I was superfluous to the particular argument I went back inside the hall and bartered with the duck stall holder and behold the ducks were mine.
Now that they’re on the wall I’ve learned they’re a bit special. They’re Beswick Ducks and they’re a little rare now – especially four of them in perfect condition.
So behold – for launch day – I give you Beswick Ducks.
More about the ducks:
The flying ducks were first produced in 1938 in Longton, England by JW Beswick. The company prospered, and flying Beswick ducks were on everyone’s walls in the 1950s and 1960s. As with anything else, they fell out of favor, but have recently risen again in popularity.
Production of the Beswick ducks was discontinued in 1973. Many copies of Beswick ducks have been issued. All the most recent ones are Chinese. The most frequently seen grouping contained just three ducks. If you have five, you are ahead of the game.
So I did good. Got my four ducks for well under half the going price I’m seeing quoted and though I knew they were a good fit with the age of my house I had no idea how good a fit. The house was built in 1938 – just as the first Beswick Ducks were flying out of the factory.
I am not a duck connoisseur as you obviously are (a little tongue in cheek) but I can plainly see that these are awesome ducks! And oh yeah…I pre-ordered Getting Real and it is next on my TBR.
I wasn’t either. They solved a minor decorating problem – they matched the rug and they wouldn’t melt above the fireplace! Only later I discovered they weren’t just ordinary tat. Thank you for adding Real to your pile. Let’s hope it’s worthy and doesn’t tip it over!
Only a little bit into it but great so far. I’d be further but had to go to work. Damn my bosses!!! :O) My TBR is actually a mountain and I predict a landslide any day now!
Oh – it’s on the top of your TBR – I thought I could relax for a bit. Oh! I second that ‘damn the bosses’.
LOL! I read it on my Kindle app on my iPhone at work. Shhh….don’t tell…
OMG! Not telling, not telling, not telling
LOL! :O)
Are you certain these are Beswick ducks (if they are not marked with the Beswick numbers and circle mark, they’re not Beswick) because no self respecting duck was that colour blue (Beswick Mallard ducks were Teal Green, Brown and White, only); look to me like copies finished of by a colour blind painter, no doubt Chinese to boot.
Hi – yeah they have the marking on the back, that’s how I worked out what I had, had to go look it up. Maybe the Beswick guy was having a blue day.