 During
the late 1950's, the highly prestigious Hagen-Renaker Pottery of San
Dimas, California, produced the most stunning plaques and wall hanging
figures which covered a variety of subjects from butterflies, horses,
fish and a bison to still life.All were produced in the usual Hagen-Renaker earthenware. Following discussions between Maxine Renaker, wife of the president of HR and Iris Carryer of Wade (Ireland), some of the molds were sent to Portadown, Northern Ireland where it was hoped Wade could produce them in porcelain for the gift market.  This
however became something of a nightmare as during the cooling process,
after being removed from the kiln they cracked. As Iris Carryer explained
to me recently, "It was awful, Ping, ping, ping! They were all cracking
as they cooled down." This was due to stress on the porcelain which,
as it cooled, had the effect of pulling it apart and thus the cracks
appeared.None of the Wade wall plaques ever went into general production and few were ever sold, however, those which do exist, like those which were produced in limited numbers by Hagen-Renaker, realise extremely high prices at auction or when privately offered for sale. If they are marked at all, those made in Portadown carry this backstamp: a Made in Ireland by Wade Co. Armagh whereas the Hagen-Renaker variety are normally found unmarked. In recent years, Wade Ceramics at their Manchester Pottery once again experienced similar production difficulties when they made the Betty Boop plaques for C&S and had a high number of breakage.  1958.
Rock Plaques.1. Fish Snapper - Bill Climes (pictured right - click on image for detail) 2. Two Horses - Maureen Love (pictured below left - click on image for detail) 3. Butterfly - Tom Masterson  4.
Crab - Bill Climes 5. Fish, Perch - Bill Climes 6. Fish, Corbina - Bill Climes 7. Fish, Pompano - Bill Climes 8. Butterfly, Large - Tom Masterson 9. Fish, Barracuda - Bill Climes 10. Bird and Butterfly - Tom Masterson 1959. Rock Plaques.  1.
Horse shaped plaque, Right - Maureen Love 2. Horse shaped plaque, Left - Maureen Love 3. Rooster shaped plaque, Right - Bill Climes 4. Rooster shaped plaque, Left - Bill Climes 5. Geisha, small head - Bill Climes (No's 5 to 9 were made in several parts and mounted on wooden panels) 6. Geisha, large head - Bill Climes 7. King - Bill Climes 8. Queen - Bill Climes 9. Jack - Bill Climes 10. Buck - Maureen Love 11. Doe - Maureen Love 12. Fawn - Maureen Love 13. Rearing Horse, Right - Maureen Love 14. Rearing Horse, Left - Maureen Love (pictured above right - click on image for detail) 15. Toucan Bird Rock, Right - Tom Masterson 16. Toucan Bird Rock, Left - Tom Masterson 17. Siamese Cats Rock - Bill Climes  18.
Bison - Bill Climes (pictured right - click on image for detail) 19. Bottle Plaque - Bill Climes 20. Fruit Plaque - Maxine Renaker Click to read the Iris Carryer of Wade Ireland interview. Grateful thanks to the president of Hagen-Renaker, Mrs Susan Nikas for her invaluable help in the preparation of this article. ©C&S Collectables |
