David Winter Little Mill, Mould One with raised name banner RARE For Sale

Mould One (The Rare Variant)

• The Design & Structure (The Raised Banner): Look closely at the rear base of this piece in the second photo. It proudly features the integrated, hand-carved raised stone name banner reading \"LITTLE MILL © DAVID WINTER 1980\" sculpted right into the plaster work. This is the fragile, early-wear design element that makes this variant incredibly desirable to specialized collectors.
• The Label: It uses a slightly more translucent, aged paper label. The ink text is starting to fade organically, which is highly common for the earliest adhesive paper stock used in the John Hine studios.
• The Color & Finish: This piece features a striking, bright golden-honey thatch finish. This bright palette provides a beautiful visual contrast when placed next to its dark-roofed sibling, highlighting the massive variations in early manual paint batches.
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• The David Winter Little Mill (Mould One) variant was retired exceptionally early, in late 1980 or early 1981, after only a tiny fraction of the overall production run was cast.
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• Mould One casting tool was abandoned almost immediately due to the extreme production problems caused by that raised name banner.
• About Your Specific LabelLooking closely at your photo, this label provides a great fingerprint for early production history:
  • The Style: It is the early printed Guild label, explicitly noting membership in the \"Guild of Master Craftsmen\".
  • The Fade: The text fading you see—where some letters like \"LITTLE MILL\" look faint or partially missing—is actually a classic characteristic of the early studio. Rather than damage, this was often caused by uneven ink application from the primitive printing or copying setups used by John Hine and his early staff in 1980. Collectors call this an \"honest\" early studio label.
  • The Felt: The deep, forest-green felt backing is uniformly applied and securely intact, which heavily protects the delicate base corners.