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. I paid $19 ppd for the set, and found them on MH$P. The seller is April Powell from New York.
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.
