Later (or Classic) duck colours - 1960 to 1974

The Later (or Classic) name is used to describe ducks of a certain style, and are the most commonly found. Produced from somewhere around 1960 through to 1974 in this shape, style and finish. They came in two sizes, Large at 6.5" and Small at 5.5". In total there were seven different colours through this period of production.

Here is our collection of these ducks.

From Left to Right, in both sizes we have Twilight, Arctic Blue, Ruby, Flint, Amber & Ocean Green. In the centre on its own we have Silver, which only came in the small size.

There is a summary of all sizes and colours here - Duck colours

Intermediate duck colours - 1959

This style of duck is somewhat of an anomaly, having the style and finish of the Early ones, yet two colours found only in the Later ones, those being Arctic Blue & Ocean Green. This led to the "Intermediate" name and the term is now commonly used. The research by Patrick Hogan and Julian Knowles in early 2007, at the Museum of London Archives, unearthed valuable information about duck production. Notably, the workbook of Ronnie Wilkinson for the Christmas to New Year week of 1958 shows an entry reading "Samples, New Colour, Duck s/s", with ditto marks beneath. Although that colour could have been Arctic Blue or Ocean Green, it is clear it was something new. Again I am focusing on colours here.

Here is our collection of Intermediate ducks, showing all six colours.

From Left to Right we have Arctic Blue (two, small), Ocean Green (small), Flint (large), Amber & Ruby in both sizes, and Twilight (two, large). Particularly with the large size ducks, they bear a striking resemblance to the Early ducks here - Early ducks  and as with those, the Large size are 7" and the Small are 5.5". The Intermediate ducks are also a single solid colour, except for Ruby which has a Flint Beak & Foot.

There is a summary of all sizes and colours here - Duck colours

Ducks in transit - double-boxed

Ducks, we covet them, those with labels a little more, but have you ever wondered how they arrived in the shop?

I obtained this duck and box many years ago and had never seen one before, nor another one since.

The box says Duck S/S to indicate Small size, although very faded. This is a small size 5.5", in Arctic Blue, with factory label dating it to no later than 1963 approximately.

Mucky ducks - common colour issues

There are certain Whitefriars colours that are regularly misidentified, and the ducks came in some of these. All manner of variables affect how a colour is perceived, I hope I can give you some slight variation in lighting here, that helps to identify these commonly argued-over colours. Don't shoot the messenger!

Here we have four of the Later style duck, made from 1960 onwards, all 5.5" tall. See notes below the pictures for the date range for each colour in this style.

Left to Right we have Ocean Green, Arctic Blue, Silver & Twilight.

As you can see, particularly for Ocean Green & Silver, the effect can be significant.

The production period by colour for this Later style for the above four colours :-
Ocean Green - 1960-65
Arctic Blue - 1960-70
Silver - 1971-73
Twilight - 1960-71

Since my goal was to assist with colours, here are all the others in the Later style :-
Ruby - 1960-74
Flint - 1960-74
Amber - 1960-63

Early duck colours - 1955 to 1958

The Whitefriars duck was first produced in 1955, and continued right up until the closure of the factory in 1980. During that time the size, colour, overall shape and the finer detail, all changed quite a lot, if you know what to look for, more on that later. Today I am focusing on colours.

Here we have our collection of the Early ducks, produced from 1955 to 1958.

From left to right they are Golden Amber, Flint, Sea Green, Sapphire Blue & Twilight. They are shown here in both the Large 7", and Small 5.5". These early examples can be readily identified as they are a single solid colour, except Ruby. They were made in Ruby during this period, and are quite elusive, having not been catalogued. The Ruby ducks were shown as "S/Ruby" in the factory production records for this period, the Foot & Beak were Flint (clear) glass and the main Body and Head were Ruby, cased in Flint.

Ducks in Sea Green & Sapphire Blue were discontinued at the end of 1958. The style also changed slightly for 1959.

All ducks colours are shown here - Duck colours