Wallie-dugs are fantoosh variorums for ordinar makkit oot o cheenae (kent as wallie forby).[1][2] Thay uisually come in twasomes an pitten at aither side o the mantel piece.[3] They war common in the 19t yeirhunner[3] an makit in bulk at potteries sic as Powkshaws in Glesga or Portobello near Edinburgh.[4]
Thay'r aftern pit thegither in pairs, decoratit wi a gowd chain an locket, an wi a creamy white coat.[5] The Wallie-dug wis a Victorian bourgeois status-seembol ornament: Nae mantalepeice wis feenishit wioot a pair o wallie-dugs guardin it. Wallie dugs war pit ontae windae sills an aw. Nouadays, Wallie-dugs ur collectors eetems.[6] Fae the 1720s, wallie dugs hiv bin pit thegither bi pottery factories in Staffoirdshire. The quality fur the modellin an pentin o the wallie dugs micht be sindry tae wan anither.[7] As popularity fur thaim went up in the 19t yearhunner, the quality stairtit tae gae doun.[8] Thoosands war pit thegither bit oreegionals in guid condeetion an thair richt pairins are nou haurder tae find. The feegures kept bein pit thegither until the 1920s an early models are better quality. Hounaiver, reproductions war still bein pit thegither in 2009.[9]