Royal Doulton Character Jug, Angel D7051 (white, light brown and yellow coloration). Designed by Martyn C. R. Alcock. Series: Christmas Miniatures, issued 1996 – 1997. Size: 2.75″H (mini)
This jug was issued in the U.S.A. only, but made available to all members of the Royal Doulton International Collectors Club. This is the last jug in the Christmas Miniature Series of Santa Claus (D6900), Mrs. Claus (6900, Elf (D6942), Snowman (D6972) and Caroler (D7007).
Collectors are always thrilled to see the many faces of Santa Claus produced by Royal Doulton over the years and what a dramatic display they make at Christmastime! Father Christmas has been immortalised as a Character Jug many times since the first model introduced in 1981. There followed two further versions in 1982 and 1983 all three having the distinguishing feature of a different handle. The Santa Claus jug marked a new direction for Royal Doulton as they produced a definite annual variation of a character jug to satisfy collectors enthusiasm, which was available for that year only. A further version of this jug appeared in 1984 with a plain handle and this remained in production in a large size until 2000 and in a small size until 2002.
Bill Harper modeled a tiny version of this jug exclusively for Seaway China in 1993 in a limited edition of 2,500. The version with a plain handle was followed by further commissions for us with differently modeled handles as follows: red and white candy cane (1995), Christmas parcels (1996) and teddy bear (1997), all in a limited edition of 2,500. One further small size variation with a Christmas Cracker handle was produced for sale in the USA in 1996.
