Lefton

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George Zoltan Lefton was a Hungarian immigrant who arrived in Chicago in 1939. Although his background was in marketing and designing specialty clothing, he had a passion for collecting fine porcelain. That is probably why we see such beautiful Lefton mermaids clad in wonderful colors and outfits!  The Lefton Company was founded in 1941. Lefton traveled to Japan in 1945 to seal an importing agreement and the first Lefton China product marked "Made in Occupied Japan" reached the United States in 1946.  Vintage Lefton products have a wide variety of marks and many times a paper label. Marks include the words Lefton's, Lefton China, Geo. Z. Lefton, G.Z.L., as well as just the letter "L".  The Lefton Company was purchased by OMT Enterprises in 2005 and moved to California. Since Lefton also imported from Japan, you often see mermaids with Japan stamped on the back and no label.  That is because they were shipped over from Japan, and then Lefton put them in a box with the Lefton label on the box... so without the box, it is hard to determine if some of these mermaids were made in Japan for Lefton.

Lefton produced a number of items in Canada and those will be seen with the ESD marking.  This mermaid is an excellent example of the same mermaid made in Canada and the US.  The pictures were taken straight on. They are the same mermaid but a different mold.  The one in Canada was bigger, the skintone is a little darker and she looks looks more to the side.   You can see the markings/stickers on the back in the picture above. 

The picture to the right shows the entire set.  The mermaid has two seahorses (blue and purple) on a pearl chain. 

Here is another mermaid with the ESD marking. The mermaid and fish came glued to a card (as a lot of them did back then).  The Lefton label is on the card, NOT on the mermaid.  The mermaid has the ESD inkstamp on the back. 

There were mermaids made in the likeness of this mermaid made in Japan (no marking), and then later on in the 60's Kelvin made one.  Each is a little different and I show examples of the other ones in the Japan and Kelvin sections.  There were two to the set that face each other.. 

This is probably the first mermaid set people think about when they think of Lefton mermaids.  They were originally sold as a set but now you will often see them sold individually.  The tailfin colors on this set vary dramatically.  Some are almost a black/purple, some are more black/green, and then you see some that are primarily purple.  The older sister always has red hair.  You will sometimes see sets sold Canada and US ones mixed together.  The younger sisters made in the US have red hair; the younger sisters made in Canada have blonde hair.  It is best to buy this set together if you want the tailfins to match. 

Here are the girls with pearls and their little sister leaning on a shell.  The ones with the pearls came with two tiny seahorses.  The one leaning on a shell came with two tiny starfish.  I have never seen these in their original packing so don't know if the two girls with pearls were sold as a set or individually.  They are real dolls with their poofy long hair that sticks way out from the wall and their thin tails with the little butts sticking up.  They always had yellow tailfins.

I believe these two mermaids riding seahorses came out around the same time - there are a lot of similarities if you look at the detail plus they both have the # 528 inkstamped on the back.  They look great by themselves but look dynamite together.  The mermaid on the left came in a box with two tiny fish.  The Lefton label is on the box and not on the mermaid.  They were made in Japan for Lefton.  I have not seen the mermaid on the right in a box but it wouldn't surprise me if she came with a couple little fishies too. 

Here we have some of the mermaids with a pattern on their tailfins.  All have the poofy hair, and a design on the tailfin.  They all came in pairs.  The one on the seahorse has a sister with pink on the tailfin and blue on the seahorse.  The ones on the bubbles have a starfish in the hair, the ones on the seahorse have a crown, and the ones on the right have pearls in their hair.  These are beautiful mermaids, and all are very rare.  The one on the seahorse can hang on the wall, but the way the tailfin of the mermaid and seahorse are made, she can also sit on a counter. 

This is another gorgeous set by Lefton.  The red headed mermaids on white pearlescent seahorses.  This set you have the same problem with variations in tailfin colors as the 3 sister red headed set, so best to buy them as a set.  What I just love about this set are the eyes - they are done differently than any of the other Lefton Mermaid eyes.

Wow!  Another beautiful set!  This is the Lefton Mermaid sisters sitting on starfish.  They are very pretty and make a wonderful wall display. Note the typical Lefton Poofy hair on both the mermaids and the soft colors on the starfish with a hint of pink on the tailfins. 

Lefton made a set of 3 mermaids sitting on fish.  Each fish is in a different position.  Note that Norcrest also made a set of 3 mermaids sitting on fish but their tailfins are blue and come to a point.  The Lefton mermaids on fish had a pink tail and the tailfin is blunt.  These mermaids on fish can be hung on the wall, but can also sit on a counter because of the way the bottom of the fish is flat.

This Lefton set is really pretty and was made around the same time as the mermaids on starfish.  The top pictures are of the Lefton set.  The bottom pictures are thought to be made in Japan for Lefton.  The ones that were made in the US just have the Lefton sticker, no number.  They have pearls in their hair and as earrings.  The ones made in Japan have what appears to be a starfish in the hair and they do not have any earrings.  Both are pretty and in many cases the faces of the Japanese ones are cuter than the Lefton US.  The Japanese ones have a Japan sticker and a number inkmarked on the back. Both are pretty sets but the quality is a little better on the Lefton US ones.

There were a number of sets made by Lefton in the late 50's, early 60's that were bisque with a matte finish rather than a gloss finish.  I saw one of these sets sprayed with gloss by someone that makes reproductions and used an inferior molding compound which required a gloss spray before molding.  It was such a shame when I saw it come up for sale in the altered condition as they look so soft in bisque and the gloss spray really takes away from the looks.  The picture of the sisters sitting of waves is that set.  The larger pictures onthe left have been sprayed with gloss.  The smaller ones are the original matte finish... and so is the big picture of the blue one.  That set often has the flower petals chipped off.  Each one holds 3 flowers.  The one in the middle picture has some flowers added to cover the chipped flowers. 

The Prince and princess set to the right is a cute set and one of the only Lefton mermaids I know of that had the arm applied to the female.  It is funny because I sometimes see this one advertised as having a "repaired" arm, but that's just the way it was made, the arm was applied after the piece was made.  You see reproductions of this set made because there was a ceramic mold made a few years back, however the mold does not have that applied arm so the mermaid only has one arm on the reproducton ceramic mermaid. 

Then there is also a cute little bell mermaid with a shell also in bisque.  You often will see her with a label of somewhere in Florida so I suppose she was sold in souviner shops. I have also seen her with the "Jasco" tag.

You don't see this mermaid that often.  She has a sister facing her that is featured in Arleen Smith's reference book on the Contents page.  She is rather large and thick.  You can hang her on the wall or sit her on a counter.  She looks real pretty in the picture but in person the thing she is sitting on is really thick and she didn't look that good with my wall display.  I would say this one you would want to put on a counter rather than hang on a wall. There are no Lefton markings but all writings point to her being made by Lefton

This is anothe mermaid with no Lefton markings but thought to be made by either Lefton or Norcrest.  JAPAN is stamped on the back.   She is very 3D and has a "doll like" appearance.  There were two to the set, the other one is horizontal.  You often just see one for sale but sometimes you can find the set of both.  Lovely dark green tailfins and bright gold star!

Yellow was a favorite color back in the 50's.  Here is another set that just comes with yellow tailfins.  They are really different and seem to be standing on their tailfins.  They are about 8" tall and look much better in person. 

Here are two vases made by Lefton.  The cute mermaids kissing and the mermaid with a seahorse pair.. 

Still plugging along working on this page - Lefton made a lot of mermaids!