A similar pair now would cost pounds 350 to pounds 400.Prices have been bubbling along steadily in recent years with frequent spectacular eruptions such as the pair of restored Obadiah Sherratt figures of Venus and Neptune with Cupid and a dolphin, circa 1830, which were expected to fetch between pounds 400 and pounds 600 in February and reached pounds 2,475, and a pair of recumbent lions, also restored, which went for pounds 1,575.But collectable pieces can still be bought for under pounds 100, particularly spill vases, cow creamers and pen holders modelled in the shape of a bird’s nest, a greyhound, or a fox and hare. “People were looking for suitably rustic ornaments for their newly acquired country cottages and Staffordshire was ideal.” Prices rocketed from pounds 10 to pounds 100 for a good pair of gilded spaniels, known as comforters, to sit in sentinel pairs on either side of the fireplace. It robustly reflects 19th century social history and has endeared itself as much to the great and the good of the 20th century as it did to the more humble classes more than 100 years ago. From kitchen dressers and mantle-shelves in modest Victorian homes it has reached Buckingham Palace where the Queen has a collection, and the reception rooms of 10 Downing Street, where there are displays of Staffordshire portrait figures of 19th century British statesmen which were collected by James Callaghan when he lived there and have been added to by successive prime ministers.The popularity of Staffordshire pottery was boosted in the 1960s by the rise of the second home, says Jane Hay of Christie’s. Both Burton and Baker were intrepid explorers in Africa but Burton also served as a diplomat in the Middle East and since one of the figures is wearing a bright green Ottoman-style turban and his wife an enveloping hijab headscarf, I would guess that the pair are more likely to be the Burtons than the Bakers. Although there is some restoration, the figures are expected to fetch between pounds 800 and pounds 1,200.
Victorian Staffordshire pottery, often simply modelled and usually vividly coloured, is cheerful English folk art at its best.

More than 100 years on, present-day collectors and salerooms now need to do a little research among old paintings, photographs and books before they can identify some portrait pieces. Even then there can be doubt, which is why a small pair of figures mounted on camels and dated circa 1861 are listed in Christie’s forthcoming sale of Staffordshire and related ware as “Sir Richard and Lady Burton, alternatively, Sir Samuel White Baker and Lady Baker”. There is no red flag flying, but as the house was donated to the people of London, was once owned by the GLC, and now houses a community arts centre, Karl Marx would be proud of it.REVOLUTIONARY ROUTESProgressive Tours, 12 Porchester Place, London W2 2BS; 0171-262 1676.Rebels, Radicals and the Red Flag tour; meet at Barbican tube at 2pm; adults pounds 4, concs pounds 3; 0171-281 5373.Highgate Cemetery, Swain’s Lane, London N6 6PJ; 0181-340 1834.. Popular Victorian heroes depicted in brightly coloured Staffordshire pottery were so well known to the cottagers and clerks who bought them that the potters rarely bothered to add names to the figures they made.

Delegations from Eastern bloc countries used to visit regularly in full uniform. Today the visits are less frequent, although there was some trouble recently with Chinese visitors who were caught scaling the cemetery’s wall before opening time.After paying your respects, stroll to Lauderdale House – a chic place to discuss the conditions of the working class while being revoltingly (sic) bourgeois and tucking into a cappuccino and salmon pancakes. Tourists, Trotskyites and even Tories can’t help but be awestruck by this massive sculpture of the theoretician’s head, surrounded by the gravestones of comrades from around the world. Lenin’s workplace was nearby, as was the place where the lyrics of The Red Flag were composed.Being red and dead seems to help a great deal with popularity, as the stream of camera-laden visitors to Karl Marx’s grave at Highgate Cemetery in north London attests. He shows a side of London that makes you glad to be in the 20th century.Although the streets around Clerkenwell Green now house publishing companies and glossy PR agencies, you learn this modest open space was the site of the first May Day march to campaign for the eight-hour working day. My guide last Sunday turned out to be a London cabbie when not regaling people gory details of rebels being hung, drawn and quartered. And join the workers in Red Square, where this year’s May Day demonstrations will be attempting, vainly, to oust Boris Yeltsin.At home you could set out on the Rebels, Radicals and the Red Flag walking tour (starting from Barbican tube in London, 2pm every Sunday), which opens up the seditious historical background to Farringdon, Smithfield and Clerkenwell.