W.H.J. Shaw Ventriloquist Figure – Re-Visited

Today I am happy to show you all one of the true rarities in ventriloquist figures. This figure was made between 1890 and 1910 by a figure maker named William Henry James Shaw. He was from Victoria Missouri and was a mannequin and window display maker. He also produced mechanical wax figures like the type figure you would see in Tussaud’s Wax Museum. His catalogue also boasted that he made the world’s best ventriloquist figures. These were made of wood and paper mache. His black figures were called ” Laughing Negro” of course the Negro minstrel shows were going very strong so this was not out of place.

This example that you see is all original but the tar baby paint has been touched up. The body, head stick and clothing are all original and period to this figure. He has a wonderful free floating head with a great locking mechanism to hold it in place but yet allow the free float. Side to side self centering eyes and moving leather mouth. You will look far and wide to find a better example of this type ventriloquist figure.

Click Here To See W.H.J. Shaw Figure

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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Dan Willinger is a ventriloquism enthusiast and ventriloquist figure collector. He has been collecting for over 25 years. He created the Ventriloquist Central Collection. It now has over 100 ventriloquist figures and over 50 of them are Frank Marshall figures. Because of his love for the art of ventriloquism, Mr. Willinger created the website Ventriloquist Central. For more information about the website, go to: http://www.ventriloquistcentral.com

Copyright 2009 by Dan Willinger

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