Scrooge meets... Emmett Kelly?

 Here's a crossover even I think is wacky: Ebenezer Scrooge meeting Emmett Kelly!

Emmett Kelly (1898-1979) being perhaps the most famous circus clown ever, but not particularly known for hanging around Victorian London!

But here he is in his "Weary Willie" persona, serenading Mr. Scrooge, as depicted by painter Barry Leighton-Jones.

Adding to the wackiness is that here are a couple of other variations on this theme.

I'm not sure which came first, the painting or this collector's plate depicting a similar scene:

The back of the plate helpfully tells us this is the tenth in the annual Christmas series and bears the title of "Merry Christmas Mister Scrooge" and was issued in 1995:

It's interesting that the painting and plate have the same theme, but a number of differences, not the least of which is that Weary Willie switched from violin to flute!

Scrooge doesn't seem impressed by either!

We're not done yet, however!

There was also an ornament issued in 1995:

Yes, it's the same scene, as the box tell us:

It's certainly unusual to have a twentieth century figure meet the actual Ebenezer Scrooge rather than a Scroogesque surrogate.

Very clever and lots of fun!

"A Christmas Carol" Plates - Wilton Armetale (2000-2008)

"A Christmas Carol" Plates (2000-2008) 
Wilton Armetale (Lancaster, PA)

We jump ahead to another series of plates with depictions of scenes from "A Christmas Carol" issued by Wilton Armetale from 2000-2008.

I was going to say that this is a recent set, until I realized that the first issue came out 20 years ago!

In any event, these are different from the usual collector plates in that they're made of pewter!
This gives them a totally different look.

Also, they had corresponding ornaments issued the same year as each plate. Or at least I think they did, but I can't be totally sure.

I also was unable to track down an image of the 2006 plate, but I could find the 2006 ornament!

The ornaments represent the same theme as the corresponding plate, but are not exactly the same image, so we can get at least an idea of what the 2006 plate looks like.

So, without further ado, here's what I could muster up:

Pretty cool!

Here's a look at the back of one of the plates:

What intrigues me is the little sticker:

It reads "Safe for cooking and serving food and beverages." Did/do people actually eat off of the likes of these?

Next: the "other" ornaments...

"A Christmas Carol" Christmas Plates - Aynsley China Limited (1979-1982)

"A Christmas Carol" Christmas Plates (1979-1982)
Artist: Lawrence Woodhouse
Aynsley Cina Limited (Staffordshire England)

We haven't looked at any collector plates in a while, so here's a set of scenes from "A Christmas Carol" issued annually between 1979 and 1982 by Aynsley China:

I always find it interesting to see which scenes are depicted in whatever medium is being used, especially when there's a small number such as the four in this series.

Hard to argue with this selection, as these scenes are all iconic. Funny that they're not in chronological order, though!

I will say that the Aynsley company, founded by John Aynsley in Staffordshire England in 1775 sounds so quintessentially British to me that they were totally qualified to issue a Dickens set of collector plates!

Buffalo Pottery, Inc. - "A Christmas Carol" (1953-1960)

With the popularity of collector's plates and "A Christmas Carol," it's no surprise that there's more than one set of such items.

This next set was issued by Buffalo Pottery, Inc. concurrent with series from Shenango China.

I found issues from 1953 through 1960, but there may be more.

I think this set is interesting as the style varies quite a bit from year to year, although, as far as I can tell, they're all designed by the same artist, Rix Jennings (a cool name!).

Here's a look at the plates, this time arranged by year of issue:

I think they're pretty cool!

Shenango Ceramics, Inc. - "A Christmas Carol" (1949-1963)

"A Christmas Carol" (1949-1963)

Shenango Ceramics, Inc.

We jump ahead a couple of decades for some more illustration, but this time in the form of collector's plates!

This is series of 12 plates issued by the Shenanago Ceramics (and/or China) company from 1949 through 1963.

The first in the series was issued in 1949, the second in 951, then the rest annually from 1954 through 1963.

The scenes depicted on the plates were not issued chronologically plot-wise and I don't see a particular reason why the were issued in the order they were.

Here's a gallery of them, which I arranged in chronological order. You an see the year of issue on the back of each plate...

This was the second-to-last issue, but it's the first scene of the book to be depicted.

This is the last issue. Did they realize they hadn't shown anything ghostly yet?

First in the series. I'm not sure what this represents, but if it's Fezziwig-related, it must be from the past, right?

A nice depiction of the Cratchit family.

Although the feel is similar, you can tell this is a different artist.

Topper! Yay!

Half of the scenes depicted take place after Scrooge's conversion.

Everyone's excited about the turkey!

This would appear to be Scrooge  on his way to Fred's house.

It took him two years to get there, but he held the same pose!

Topper's party? Wait! Hold it!

A nice ending!

I think these are a lot of fun, but imagine waiting 14 years to complete the set!