Bull Shakers #166H: 1942 only
The #166 Bull shaker design is one of the most likeable and collectable shapes ever produced by Frankoma. Despite that these were produced for one year only they are fairly easy to find, especially in prairie green glaze. Intense collector demand, however, keeps the prices quite high. About 2/3’s of the Bull shakers are prairie green making the other glazes very desirable.
The hole pattern on the bulls is typically four for the salt and three for the pepper arranged in a straight line. Some examples exist with a cursive hole pattern usually with five holes for the salt and eight for the pepper. I show these in Royal Blue, Osage Brown, and Prairie Green (2). I have seen them in Ivory. The picture in the 1942-1943 catalog shows a cursive pair. I believe these cursive examples are the early production.
The bulls are easily damaged so the collector must pay attention when paying the high prices encountered with this item. The horns are easily damaged and that is usually obvious. Be aware, however, that this design will also crack down the back, a fault which is most difficult to detect.
Some of these are marked with the small incised mark with oval ‘o’. These are also available with the ink stamp “Made in Okalhoma, USA” used during World War II.
Glazes available should be patina (prairie green after 1944), old gold (desert gold after 1944,) Osage brown, fawn brown, blue-grey jade, onyx black, ivory, white sand, silver sage, royal blue, dusty rose, Indian blue (peacock blue after 1943), desert rose, sky blue, and early matte yellow.