Royal Doulton Figurine Organ Grinder HN2173

The Organ Grinder (HN2173) was designed by Mary Nicoll and issued by Royal Doulton from 1956 to 1965, standing 8.75 inches tall. The figure presents the street musician with his barrel organ and monkey — a pairing that was among the most evocative sights of Victorian and Edwardian London and one of the most characterful subjects in the Street Vendor tradition. Nicoll renders the scene in a rich palette of green, red, blue and brown, the organ grinder and his small companion caught in the glossy, detailed finish that defined the finest mid-century HN work.

The organ grinder occupied a peculiar place in the popular imagination — at once a figure of entertainment and marginal poverty, the monkey on his shoulder adding an exotic note to an otherwise workaday street life. Nicoll understood that complexity and built it into the figure's bearing, giving the piece the same thoughtful characterisation she brought to her best occupational work. The result is one of the more visually striking Street Vendor subjects in the entire HN range.

The production window ran nine years before retirement in 1965, and the Organ Grinder has been out of production for six decades. Nicoll's mid-century character studies are consistently sought by collectors who appreciate the quality of observation behind them, and a first-quality example with the monkey intact is a genuine find.