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Little is known about the history of Lane and Co. They were originally located in Los Angeles, moving to Van Nuys in the early 50's. The company is believed to
have folded in the late 60's. The products of Lane & Co. are popular with collectors for their airbrushed coloration. Their colors and designs on seacreatures
was simple yet very different than the other mermaids of the time. The oldest date seen on a Lane product is 1950, with some of the early pieces marked Nickerson.
The vast majority of their production is marked Lane & Co., but some pieces were unmarked and some produced with the Sunkist Creations marking. It appears that
they went back to the Lane & Co. name, only to become Lane Ceramics, a Division of Condecor in later years. Condecor was based in Mundelein, Illinois,
and also sold picture frames under the name "Decorative Arts." The products of Lane & Co. are extremely popular with collectors for their beautifully airbrushed coloration and elegant designs, and their
flamingo is one of the most highly prized TV lamps.
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These mermaids are a lot larger than they look in a picture. The one on the left is 7" tall. This set is brown with a touch of blue. I also had a set of these once where they were all
blue... I have seen sets with yellow hair and I have a set that is solid black with gold specks. You don't see this set that often, but every time you do it is done in different airbrushed
colors! A really unique set of mermaids in their design and the tailfin is smooth, no scales like most mermaids done in that timeframe.
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This is a likeness of the Merboy set that Lane & Company made. Unfortunately I can't find my pictrure of the originals I sold so I am using
a picture of a set I created from the mold I made of the original set. The original set had yellow airbrushed hair and blue aribrushed on the tailfin
like the mermaid set a above.. The merboy set came with the fish I show above. See the similarity in the tailfins of the two mermaids above and the merboy set - both are smooth, no scales.
The fish, mermaid, and merboy set are the only seacreature wall plaques that Lane & Company made (that I know of). They were more known for their colorful lamps .
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