A pictorial website mainly about transfer-printed and cream-colored ceramic feeders, bottles and pots made in England during the 19th Century used to feed infants, sick children and invalids.

Welcome and thanks for visiting, 

In the area of ceramic feeders one quickly realizes that there really is not much information to find.  The reasons for this are varied and have alot to do with the facts that those that collect also collect other things as well,  that the larger collections are institutional (i.e., at museums), often overlooked and generally not exhibited for public viewing, and finally, and I really believe this, those that do collect want them to remain under the radar so to keep prices down and chances of finding them up.

While collecting I always thought of someday leaving something behind for the new collecting folks. One of my problems with that was that I was never really interested in the "what" and "when" of things, I was more interested in the "why" and "beauty" of them.  Long story short this small website, while not much origins, patterns or dates, is my contribution towards that end.

I now must immediately mention the one exception to not finding information about ceramic feeders while collecting and that was John K. Crellin’s wonderfully illustrated black and white book on medical ceramics (see “Crellin’s Collection”).

Now a few words about collecting.  As in collecting anything there are always the few that “get away” that you never really forget about and continually kick yourselves for not doing things a little differently. While generally not a large number (I can think of maybe four in my case) -  it's the reasons for not getting them that haunt you  (i.e., bulking at the asking price that really was fair considering the item or being indecisive when presented with the opportunity and it slipped away).   Hindsight really highlights mistakes made.  So why the rambling?  When the opportunity to buy something unique and rare presents itself  “do it”.  They do not happen repeatedly, they do not happen often and chances are they will never happen.  These things are rare, historical and beautiful and you should consider yourself lucky when given the opportunity to acquire them.  My only word of caution is of course its “condition”.  For me personally I generally only wanted ceramics that were in perfect condition which to me meant that it be free of repairs, damage and hairline cracks. This policy has served me well but has resulted in having a smaller collection than others that did not have as high standards.

For all general purposes I have really stopped collecting ceramic feeders and the majority of my collection has since been sold.  With that said, and as with most collectors, I have kept those I considered my favorites which I have continue to enjoy and admire (see “My Collection”).  The question might come up as to why I said "for all general purposes".  The answer is that once you have the collecting bug it forever stays in your blood.  

I really hope that you enjoy the pictures and that a fire has been lite in those seeing them for the first time. 

The pictures included on the website (see "Photo Library") are but a very small sampling of the wide array of shapes, colors and patterns. I wish to thank those few that provided me with pictures from their collections - you know who you are.

FeederGuy