1962 Wooden purse signed by Enid Collins. Titled "Pretty Foxie." 8½" x 11" x 2¾". Cream leather, cream plastic handle, and brass hardware. $37 from Ginny Chenowith, Las Cruces, NM, through Ebay, Sept., '00.
A painted fox with rhinestone eyes sits beneath a bough of purple cabochon grapes. Some of these are missing. Inside the lid is a mirror and "The Original Box Bag by Collins of Texas hand-decorated for You! Copyright 1962 enid collins." The lid has "ec" in the lower right corner. Click on either image for a fuller view of the bag.
1900? Wooden music box with crank, picturing the fox and one other character. Circular crank. 3" x 2.5" x 1.75". Unknown source.
I suspect that I bought this because an overzealous seller advertised it as illustrating a fable. The figure on the left looks to me like the pilgrim Reynard, but I am unsure who the figure on the right might be. I have looked through many Reineke Fuchs illustrations but found nothing similar. Alas, the music no longer plays. The circumference traced by the crank is clear on the top of the box.
1930? Wooden box "Les plus jolies fables de La Fontaine." Six scenes: WC; "Bertrand and Raton"; FC; "Two Mice and an Egg"; TMCM; and FS. 10½: x 7¼". 2" high. $50 from MidIslandMiscellany through Etsy, July, '22.
It is tempting to see this shallow box as made for cigars, but I lean rather toward the theory that it housed a set of six-sided picture blocks. This box is well worn! Two of the scenes are rare choices for a small selection of La Fontaine's fables: "Bertrand and Raton" and "Two Mice and an Egg."
2024? Wolf in sheep's clothing arm patch. 3.1" x 3.1". Made in China. $5 from Joshua Jakobovich, Shiloh, Israel, Jan., '25.
Now, twenty years later, a surprising addition to our group of patches comes out of China through a dealer in Israel. By contrast with other images from China, this one gets the fable right! Finding this patch was my occasion for learning that WSC grew from a gospel image into a fable only in the 1600's.
1991 Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. Children's toy from an unknown maker, sold at a Los Angeles flea market. Gift of Margaret Carlson Lytton, Nov., '91.
Movable head and legs. This curious creation may resemble a dog as much as a wolf. Whichever he/she is, the creature did its costume very well!
1982 Wolf in a Sheepskin puppet. Sewn in Haiti. Dakin. From an unknown source, Nov., '11.
This wolf stands over 12" high. His sheepskin pulls partly over his head and is fastened around his neck. I am happily surprised that a major puppet manufacturer would take on an Aesopic story figure. It almost certainly comes from the phrase "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing," probably used by many unaware of the story behind the phrase. With his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, this creature tends to be cuddly rather than wolfish.
This cup, 1½" high, features WL but it has lost its handle. It has "Germany" printed near its seam. $12 from Marlene Schmidt, Readlyn, Iowa, Nov., '00.
1950? Matching cup and saucer with the former featuring WC flanked by a tree group and a fence group. The saucer offers three images apparently not directly related to fables: dogs pointing, wolves (?) attacking a lamb, and a pheasant. The cup stands 2.25" high and has about the same diameter, and the saucer is a little over 4.5" in diameter. White (porcelain?) with gray illustrations. There is one serious chip in the cup. $8 from John Cawley, Blue Jay, CA, through Ebay, Feb., '00.
A small, dainty set. Maybe the biggest surprise lies in the way it moves from a fable scene on the cup to three generic animal scenes on the saucer. Might this have belong to a child's set? It seems small for adults. I am not sure that I want, while eating, to look at a stork putting his beak down a wolf's throat!
The wolf in WL wears a top hat, vest, and trousers. He carries a hunter's pouch and points menacingly at the lamb, who is dressed in children's clothes. Does the lamb have a toy sailboat in is hands/paws?
2000? Wineglass "Zum gemütlichen Fuchsbau." .25 liter. 4.5" high. Unknown source.
Maybe best translated "At the cozy fox's den." This standard German wineglass led me to try to pin down which Fuchsbau might have used this glass. There are too many Fuchsbaus in Germany! Foxy bars and restaurants can have trouble keeping the fox away from the out-of-reach grapes!
1750?/1970? Williamsburg Wooden Checkers. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Produced by The Charles H. Overly Studio, Harvard, Mass. Gift of the Lytton family, Dec., '84.
In these replicas of eighteenth-century wooden checkers, the black pieces may well illustrate the story of the stag whose antlers got caught in the trees. The "browns" certainly illustrate MSA. Notice the miller and son carrying the ass across the top of the piece. At the right, the two ride together, while onlookers on the left criticize them. "Esopus" marks both pieces.
2011? "A Fable," broadside designed and printed by hand on handmade paper by André Chaves. "Another Poet's version of The Raven presented to the Zamorano Club." Clinker Press. 10¼" x 16". $80 from Oak Knoll Books, Oct., '21.
In 2011 Chaves at the Clinker Press produced a version of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." Might this broadside of Cowper's poem have been a companion piece? Dramatic work on a poem surrounded by a repeated printer's design involving a raven. The fable is about a mother raven who fears for her newly laid eggs in the storm and is then relieved -- only to have "neighbour Hodge" come the next morning to steal the eggs to give to his girlfriend. "Fate steals along with silent tread, found oft'nest in what least we dread."
1960? Box of 4 "Fables de La Fontaine" cardboard puzzles. TH; FC; GA; and MM. Artist: J. Robion. Willeb Ref. #1748. €12 from lesvieuxbidules through Ebay, Sept., '20.
These are spirited illustrations of fables. The animals about which Perrette dreams are sitting or standing along the path. Both grasshopper and ant are curious mixtures of human and animal. The tortoise is apparently crawling or flopping over the ribbon marking the finish line. The sturdy cardboard puzzles, about 6¾" x 9½", are in excellent condition, perhaps never taken apart. The box itself has suffered more wear. Included are same-sized images of the puzzles' scenes. Since there are four puzzles involved and their pictures are unusual, I have made a separate page for this set, to be found by clicking on the cover image.
