Minuet HN2066, Royal Doulton Figurine

Minuet (HN2066) was designed by Margaret "Peggy" Davies and issued from 1950 to 1955, standing 7.25 inches tall. It belongs to the Peggy Davies Classics — the series that established Davies as Harradine's natural successor and the defining voice of Royal Doulton's mid-century figurine output. The Minuet subject depicts a lady in flowing period costume posed in the graceful attitude of the formal dance, and Davies brought to it the same mastery of swirling drapery and refined facial modelling that made her ladies so immediately recognisable.

HN2066 is the red dress colourway, and that distinction matters considerably to collectors. Its companion version, the white dress Minuet HN2019, was issued from 1949 to 1971 — a run of over twenty years. HN2066 by contrast was produced for just five years before being withdrawn. The same model, the same subject, a dramatically shorter window: the red dress version is the scarce one, and the market has long reflected that fact.

For collectors pursuing Peggy Davies's early work, the short-run colourways consistently command the strongest interest, and HN2066 is a textbook example of why. It is the piece that serious Minuet collectors want, and it appears on the market a good deal less often than its white-dressed counterpart.