3 Russell Clymer Plates

3 WESTERN ART COLLECTOR PLATES - CHARLES M. RUSSELL AND JOHN CLYMER, GORHAM / FRANCISCAN / RIDGEWOOD, ALL MARKED AND NUMBERED SERIES Three large limited-edition western art collector plates, all with gold rims and full-color transfer scenes of the American West, each with a printed backstamp naming the artist, the title, the china maker, and the series. Two reproduce paintings by Charles M. Russell and one reproduces a John Clymer painting. The plates are: "A Doubtful Visitor - 1896" by Charles M. Russell, marked Ridgewood Fine China USA, "one in a limited edition series"; "AMBUSHED" by Charles M. Russell, marked Franciscan Masterpiece China, hand numbered No. 918 of 2500, fifth of a series of six; and "A Fine Welcome" by John Clymer, marked Gorham Fine China USA, from the Encounters, Survival and Celebrations series, first of a series of six, limited edition of 7500, plate number 2658, copyright 1971 John Clymer and copyright Gorham 1982, with a printed Clymer signature on the back. All three carry the artist's signature reproduced in the scene - the Russell plates show the C M Russell signature with his buffalo-skull device and the dates 1896 and 1911, and the Clymer plate is signed John Clymer with a 1971 copyright. Each roughly 10.5 in in diameter. Flaws to know about: an orange "73" inventory sticker is applied to the back of one plate; light surface scuffing and faint utensil-type marks in the glaze; minor rub to the gold rims in spots; general shelf dust. No boxes, no certificates, no hangers, and no stands are included. Description Form: three round wall or display plates with wide gold-banded rims, coupe-style faces printed edge to edge with western scenes - a wagon-train encounter with mounted warriors on the Clymer, a bull-team and trail party meeting a mounted Native rider on one Russell, and a sepia-toned running-horse ambush scene on the other Russell. Construction and finish: white fine china and porcelain with full-color decal transfer decoration under glaze and applied gold rim bands; smooth glossy glaze; unglazed foot rings; printed black or gold backstamps. Marks: backstamp one, quoted verbatim: "CHARLES M. RUSSELL / 1865-1926 / A Doubtful Visitor - 1896 / RIDGEWOOD FINE CHINA U.S.A. / Charles M. Russell, one of America's foremost artists representative of the American western scene. / ONE IN A LIMITED EDITION SERIES." Backstamp two, quoted verbatim: "AMBUSHED / Charles M. Russell / American (1864-1926) ... No. 918 of 2500 / Fifth of a series of six limited edition plates / Franciscan MASTERPIECE CHINA." Backstamp three, quoted verbatim: "JOHN CLYMER / 1907- / GORHAM FINE CHINA U.S.A. / Encounters, Survival & Celebrations / 'A Fine Welcome' / Narcissa Whitman & Eliza Spalding become the first white women to cross the Continental Divide. / First of a series of six plates. limited edition of 7500 / 1971, John Clymer, all rights reserved Gorham 1982 / Plate Number 2658." Note that the two Russell backstamps give different birth years, 1865 on the Ridgewood and 1864 on the Franciscan - that discrepancy is on the plates themselves and is quoted as printed. Size: each approximately 10.5 inches in diameter, per the tape-measure photographs. In every tape frame the tape lies loose across the plate rather than hooked, so all figures are close estimates only. Published references list the Gorham Clymer plate at 10 3/4 inches. Photographed on a dark oak table and shelf. Only the three plates pictured are included. The Milwaukee tape measure is a photo reference only and is NOT included, and no boxes, papers, stands, or hangers are included. Attribution note Charles M. Russell, the Montana "Cowboy Artist," is one of the two best-known painters of the American West, and his images were licensed onto collector plates by several china makers in the 1970s and 1980s. John Clymer was a widely published western and Saturday Evening Post illustrator whose historical scenes were researched in detail, which is what the Gorham backstamp is referring to. The Clymer plate here illustrates the 1836 crossing of the Continental Divide by Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding, as its own backstamp states. Allen's Collectibles catalogs "A Fine Welcome" as the first plate in Gorham's Encounters, Survival and Celebrations series, issued 1982, artist John Clymer, 10 3/4 inches, at an $80 issue price. Franciscan Masterpiece China was the fine-china line of Gladding, McBean and Company of Los Angeles, which became Interpace in 1962 and was sold to Wedgwood in 1979, with American production ending in the mid 1980s, per Wikipedia's account of Franciscan Ceramics and the Franciscan Ceramics Archive. Auction catalog records document a Ridgewood Fine China USA Russell series that included "A Bad One - 1920," "A Doubtful Visitor - 1896," "The Cattleman - 1909," and "Discovery of Last Chance Gulch - 1925," each marked "one in a limited edition series," which places this plate as part of a four-plate or larger Ridgewood