Circus Time: The Phony Ponies

Yesterday's Hagen Renakers were so lovely that Shiken, a company in Japan that produced bone china figurines in the 1960s, copied the Head Up Pony. 

This one fooled me at first, but when I took a closer look, I noticed black hooves, not gold. The next photo shows my two variations of the HR Head Ups. Can you see other differences between them and the Shiken?

The Shiken harness is brown, not gold, and the body color is a stark white, unlike the Hagen Renakers which are creamy colored due to the slip that is used in producing them.

Still it was a charming piece and I added him to my collection even though he was an imitation. But Shiken and another company, Kelvin, didn't stop with copying the Head Up circus pony. They created new pieces. (And I am so glad that they did.)

I have eleven of them - look at the variety of poses and sizes! Aren't they fun?

These four all bear Shiken stickers. Now, we all know that stickers can be switched around or removed altogether, but I feel confident that these pieces are by Shiken.

These two have stickers from Kelvin (sometimes called Kelvin Bradley.) Like the Shikens, they are made from bone china and very white. The piece on the right is a copy of the HR Head Up pony, but is a bit larger in scale. They have unusual plumes and their harnesses have scalloping and are two different colors. I have never seen any others like these two.

These four do not have stickers but I believe them to be Shikens as their harnesses are the same as the other Shikens. This Head Up pony is the only one in my knock off collection that has no plume. Look at the one on the left - what a long plume and I love the energetic pose.

There is some size variation among the pieces that adds interest to them, at least in my opinion.

A little hard to tell, but the pony on the right is a bit bigger.

You can see the size difference here, too.

These Phony Ponies are some of my favorites, and not just in my collection of circus ponies but in my entire collection. I'd love to find more - I suspect there are other poses, too. 

After I was nearly fooled by the Head Up Shiken pony, I put together an entry for the Anything Goes class at a Great Lakes Congress show.

It did well for me, and was a lot of fun to assemble.

These phony ponies make me smile every time I get them out. (I'm even smiling now as I type!)

Next up? We will look at some non-equine circus animals.

Prepare to be amazed!

The Phony Pony Herd

Yesterday I wrote that I would try to get some snaps of  all of my Japan copies of the HR circus pony and the others that were made to go with them.

 I think they are charming and constantly have my eyes open for them when I am out antiquing.

There are some size variations - sometimes I think it is a scale variation and that there are two different sized sets of the same molds, other times I wonder if it is simply one company copying another (i.e. a copy of a copy) and changing the size a bit to avoid copyright issues. Sadly, the labels are usually missing from the horses when I find them so I do not always know who produced them.

In this group, my Shiken is the smallest, with the broken-legged new one just a bit larger, and finally a much larger Kelvin. Note the other differences in him - he's not sitting on his hocks, and his front legs are slightly different from the other two. His tack is blue and brown/orange instead of gold, but he does have the red heart.

 These three are unique to themselves thus far in my collection. The most recent one (on the right) looks a little bigger and chunkier than the other two.

Here are the "true copies," ones that you have no doubt are knock-offs of the HR Head Up circus pony. The larger Kelvin is on the left, then the new broken-legged piece, a Shiken, and the real Hagen Renaker on the right. It's hard to tell from the photos, but the HR has a creamy color due to the slip that was used to make him, while the others are a stark white bone china.

A size comparison, with the horses in the same order, HR on the right. You can see the body color difference better in this picture. He's also a little rounder.

Another HR (left) with the first. He has some light grey shading on his nose and legs, better eyes, and the early scalloped harness. His ears are a little more pointed, too.

I once did an Anything Goes class for GLC called "The Phony Pony Circus" where I used some of these and one real HR Head Up circus pony. (Go here to read about it.) It was fun and I may pull it out for an upcoming show that's on my calendar.

My collection of circus ponies first began with the Hagen Renakers, expanding only when I realized that the piece I was considering buying on eBay had black hooves. Thinking it was a variation, I bought him, and when I had him in-hand, I realized that he was a copy. That prompted my ongoing search for more of these cuties. I like them just as much, if not more, than the originals.

New Circus Ponies!

Look what I just found - two new circus ponies to add to my collection!

They're bone china and made by Kelvin, a Japanese company that (clearly) did knockoffs of the Hagen Renaker circus ponies.

Hagen Renaker did not do a rearing one, but this copy has the harness (complete with heart), the white body color with the black mane and tail, and the red pipe cleaner plume of the Hagen Renaker Circus Ponies.

In this case, the plume is a pipe cleaner folded in half, not a single piece like Hagen Renaker's. There is a little crazing in their finish, too, not uncommon for older china pieces (including Hagen Renakers.)

This one mimics Hagen Renaker's Head Up Circus Pony.

On both ponies, the mane and tail have white in them, possibly for depth and detail or maybe just because of sloppy painting. I lean toward the latter because the hooves and harnesses also have white streaks in them.

Here is a comparison of the Kelvin to a Shiken (Japan) copy and the original Hagen Renaker Circus Pony. Note the Kelvin is larger in scale, too. Check out those hooves - all the copies in my collection have black hooves. Was it due to the cost of gold paint?

You can also tell that the copies are bone china (see that stark white color?) while the Hagen Renaker has a creamier color due to the slip that was used to make it.

As I said, Hagen Renaker did not make a rearing Circus Pony, but Shiken did. The Kelvin is on the left and the Shiken on the right.

I have eight various circus pony copies in my collection, and not one of them is a copy of Hagen Renaker's Head Down Circus Pony. I wonder if they're out there?

While I don't care much for the idea of one company taking another's product, making a few minor changes, and then marketing it as their own, it was (and remains) a common occurrence. But I have to admit, I find all the copies charming, and I really, really like these two.