Royal Crown Derby bone china Arctic Fox paperweight figurine. Ceramic stopper.

Royal Crown Derby Arctic Fox bone china paperweight. This vintage piece is one of the earliest models launched in 1983 and on retired in 1987. Please see my other listings for the matching Red Fox. Also known as 'Blue Fox' or 'Arctic Fox' it was one of the first three to be withdrawn from sale; others were the Hedgehog and Seal. When Royal Crown Derby first introduced their paperweights in September 1981, they were filled with sand at the factory and a small simulated gold stopper was inserted in the basal hole. The practice of filling paperweights with sand was not liked for several reasons; transportation costs were higher and Health and Safety Legislation was infringed. Therefore the sand was left out but gold stoppers continued to be used. Some years later, the decision was taken to increase the amount of clay used in the paperweight bodies so as to make them more robust. The gold stopper was replaced with a permanently fixed ceramic stopper marked with the Royal Crown Derby cypher and a hole next to it to prevent the piece exploding in the kiln. The paperweights that had these ceramic stoppers were: Badger, Cat, Duck, Fox, Frog, Harvest Mouse, Hedgehog, Owl, Penguin, Pheasant, Pig, Quail, Rabbit, Seal, Snail, Turtle, Wren. The ceramic stopper proved unpopular with collector's so the gold stopper was re-introduced.