by Dr. Don Hardisty
The "Imagical
World of Bossons," was created by William Henry Bossons (W. H. Bossons), and
later advanced to worldwide prominence
by his son W. Ray Bossons
(W. R. Bossons). The senior Bossons
opened the business early in 1946 that continued until his death in 1951.
Then,
Ray Bossons succeeded his father as Chairman and
Managing Director with his wife, Ruth Fraser Bossons
in charge of financial affairs.
In 1994, Jane Bossons
Roberts, Ray's daughter, directed the operations until the business closed in
December 1996. Ray Bossons died in 1999.
He is
survived by Ruth, his wife, and by daughter Jane, and his son Richard Bossons. The business was officially named W. H. Bossons, Limited
of Congleton,
England where operations were undertaken out of the historic old mill buildings
known as Brook Mills, originally used around 1800 for manufacturing silk.
Currently the site is under construction as a high end apartment complex.
W. Ray Bossons
designed the first 'Character Wall Masks' (Heads as collectors call them)
starting in 1958. Worldwide popularity of these
Bossons
creations (always include the 's', not Bosson), spread over the entire world as exports and were
sent to many countries. Over the years various part-time artists were employed
to sculpt the original models; however, the body of the works
were done by Fred Wright, Alice Brindley,
and
Ray Bossons, himself. In addition to the Series B
(5-1/2-inch heads) were larger models in the Series A (up to 11 inches), the
Wildlife Collection, and many dogs and cats. The very first productions were
high relief plaster Wall Plaques (not called plates) listed in the first
complete
catalog of 1948 and included the 'Beautiful Britain Series.' They
included many flower designs, and depicted historic buildings, castles,
bridges,
and English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish scenes. From the beginning,
all Bossons were 'Hand Painted,' and this became the
hallmark of original Bossons works of art.
Bossons not only
include the gypsum plaster items mentioned, but they also experimented with the
fired pottery medium which includes
some of the most rare and collectible Bossons known today: the four Aboriginal Plaques, African
Pottery Masks, Bookends, Boxed Bird Sets, Character Dogs, larger Birds, Garden
Figures, table lamps, and Modern Pottery Figures, among many others. Perhaps
the most unique and detailed creations from Bossons
came from the Fraser-Art Division (named for Mrs. Ruth Fraser Bossons). This Division was planned for production of
'premier art works of the future.' Fraser-Art was a special PVC,
or 'Stonite' product and was very durable. The
process also allowed for extremely fine detail. Fraser-Art was produced from Bossons during 1966-1982 and included all kinds of animals,
birds, clocks, barometers, thermometers, wall mirrors, the elegant Copper
Collection of Birds, Vikings and ships, and American rodeo and football
players. The final releases of Fraser-Art were the Crown Collection of animals
and birds modeled into typical scenes from nature by Mrs. Alice Brindley. The hundreds of scenic plaques and Character Wall
Masks offer ample opportunity to keep collectors busy for many years.
This short article was written in 2008 at the personal request of Richard Bossons, Son of W. Ray Bossons,
written and submitted by Dr. Donald M. Hardisty, USA. For questions, comments, and more detailed information
about Bossons go to
http://www.collectiblebossons.com, Dr. Hardisty's website.