Willow Art China crested ware kangaroo

Crested china collecting became a craze in the Victorian period when tourists bought small, hollow, off-white coloured porcelain ornaments decorated with the coats of arms of the towns they visited to take home as a souvenir.
Before World War One, pottery companies including Adderleys, Arcadian, Carlton, Clifton, Florentine, Grafton, Podmore, Savoy, Shelley, Swan, Willow Art, and W H Goss, mainly from the Stoke -on-Trent area, made miniature collectibles such as vases, plates and other crockery, houses, public buildings, cars and replicas of visitor attractions. During the war, the range of souvenirs was expanded to include military caps, equipment and vehicles.
Crested china ornaments are also known as ‘Heraldic China’ or ‘Heraldic Souvenir Ware’.

There are several examples in the collection made by a variety of makers.

Examples with this particular maker's mark, "Willow Art" and the town name "Longton", were used by the companies Hewitt & Leadbeater and Hewitt Brothers c.1907 - c.1925. Given the use of the military rising sun badge on the reverse, it is likely to have been made berween 1915 and 1925.