1990? The Fox and the Grapes: An Aesop Fable. A Scherenschnitte design cut from a single sheet of paper and painted in water colors by Claudia Hopf. Five cards boxed, with envelopes. Beverly, MA: American Folklore: Kristin Elliott Inc. Gift of Margaret Carlson Lytton, from the Amy Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Williamsburg, 1994.
1985? "The Fox and the Grapes." 5" x 7". Colorado Springs, Co. Gift, '85?.
An eager fox assumes a posture like that of a begging dog just before some grapes hanging very near, so its seems, his nose. There is no message inside the card.
2020 Gratitude greeting card. "The grateful heart will always find opportunities to show its gratitude. Aesop." Sketches from "The Fabled Life of Aesop" by Pamela Zagarenski. No. 538. Signed by the senders, Paul and Ianthe Swensen, Dec., '21.
The scenes on the front and back of the card connect. Did the woman get the grapes for the fox?
1950? One small FG Czech glass moonglow button, 1" in diameter, showing a fox, a trellis, a leaf, and grapes. Wire loop shank. $6 from Kathy Hoppe at B'gosh Buttons, Oshkosh, WI, Feb.,' 00.
The background of this unusual button is a milky blue. Out of it is a raised scene painted in gold. Other buttons bought in the same Dutch auction include Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and Frogs and a Cart. The latter has at least three frogs. So, apparently, it is not the Aesopic fable of the two frogs, one of whom lived on the road.
1890? One small FG brass button, 5/8" in diameter, showing only a close-up of the fox's head, a couple of pieces of wood crossed, and grapes and leaves hanging overhead. A P & Cie, Paris. $10 from Joni Goldbarg through Ebay, April, '99.
This button again takes a different artistic conception of the theme. It can be hard to read except up very close, partially because of its smaller size. BBB Plate 154 #19, which says of it "The well defined brass design is cut out and mounted over a background of grey pearl; tinned steel back and brass wire shank" (378). The BBB illustration may actually show the button upside-down, since it ends up with the grapes below the fox!
1890? One smaller brass Victorian button, 5/8" in diameter, showing the same scene of the fox looking up at a cluster of grapes, including the curled tendril. Acquired during summer, '99.
This button was clearly meant to be a match to the larger Larner/Beck button. I cannot pick up any tint. Three-piece construction.
1890? One large dark red-tinted brass Victorian button, 1 3/8" in diameter, showing the fox looking up at a cluster of grapes. $24.99 from Robin Larner, Rochester, NY, through Ebay, July, '99. Extra exemplar without the reddish tint for $25 from Bruce Beck, Cedarburg, WI, July, '99.
Perhaps the defining mark on this lovely dark button in fine condition is the curled tendril just above the fox's head. The red tint in the Larner exemplar is unmistakable here. BBB Plate 153, #3. Steel back and wire shank.
1890? One silvered brass FG button with cut steels, slightly over ¾" in diameter, showing the fox looking back at a cluster of grapes. $10 from David Conway, Hooksett, NH, Feb., '00.
This button follows exactly the pattern of the Larner button (BBB Plate 153, #8) just above, but is half the size and therefore less well defined. It also has a silver rather than gold sheen. A shank is welded onto the back.
1890? One one-piece FG stamped-brass button, 1 3/16" in diameter, showing the fox looking back at a cluster of applied steel grapes. $46.50 from Robin Larner, Rochester, NY, through Ebay, April, '99.
This button takes a different artistic conception of the theme. BBB Plate 153, #8. The button is unusual among those I have not only for the applied grapes but also because it is of one piece (with no added back or shank) except for the grapes.
1890? A brass FG button 7/8" in diameter, with no dark background. $8.33 from Robin Larner, July, '99.
Identical with the Goldbarg button of the same dimensions, except that this one shows only the bright brass color. See my comments there. Like that, this has a patterned design on a separate metallic back with a self shank. Might this be an exemplar of the modern reproduction?
1890? A brass FG button 7/8" in diameter, showing somewhat less of the scene than the Joyce's Jems buttons. $12 from Joni Goldbarg through Ebay, April, '99.
A tree with a high picket fence replaces the grasses on the left, there is nothing on the ground in the foreground, there is less of the scene pictured on the right of the fox, and the fox has his left paw on the first step of a simple ladder leading toward the grapes. BBB Plate 154, #20, which says that the button was reproduced in the 1950's.
1890? 2 matched FG buttons, .6" in diameter. $25 from Joyce's Jems at the Dulles International Antiques Show and Sale, April, '97, and $12 from Joni Goldbarg through Ebay, April, '99.
The same scene as in the 1.5" Joyce's Jems large button. Apparently they were meant to be used together. The buttons seem to have a circle of metal shaped around the hook-bearing metallic or celluloid base.
1890? Two large FG buttons, 1.5" in diameter. $50 from Joyce's Jems at the Dulles International Antiques Show and Sale, April, '97 and $20 from Onie Wiedeman, Minot, ND, May, '99.
The Big Book of Buttons (Elizabeth Hughes and Marion Lester, Second printing: 1991, Plate 152, #4). The depth of this button makes the rubbed high points of its scene stand out in lovely fashion from the dark background on the Joyce's Jems exemplar, while the Wiedeman is much brighter throughout. A real prize!
1890? One large button, 1 5/8" in diameter, showing a running fox (or dog?) and a fowl in flight just above it. $35 from Bruce Beck, Cedarburg, WI, August, '99.
This is the largest button I have found. The two figures are surrounded by reeds, branches, and at least one blossom. There is a thick floral border around the perimeter. Three-piece construction. I have no notion what scene may be portrayed.
1930? 7" white plate from Sarreguemines, France. Inside a 1.5" rim there is a portrayal of FC (X 2). The front carries two inscriptions: "Fables de la Fontaine" and "3. Le Renard et le Corbeau." The back has a smudged "Digoin" stamp. $9 from Take a Second Look, Inc., Cuddebackville, NY, through Ebay, June, '99.
The front of the plate seems exactly the same as on the black-colored plate found earlier except that the front coloring is now brown. See my comments there.
Le Corbeau et le renard Here the cheese, dropped by the crow, has landed on the fox's head and made a major bump. The fox is still dizzy from the experience. This kind of humor, which I have found frequently on French post cards, I find here for the first time on tableware.
2023? The Fox and the Crow Fable Mug. Ceramic. 3¾" high. Identical scene on each side. $19.54 from Mangastory through Etsy, Jan., '25.
Lovely blues and brown, with just the touch of yellow in the crow's cheese. I am encouraged by the way that Etsy's craftspersons are discovering good motifs in the fables.
1890? 1 circular FC button, brass, .75" in diameter. Unknown source.
The image is familiar. This is one of our smaller buttons. No rim. The button itself is of one-piece construction, with a metal eyelet welded onto the back.
1930? 7" white plate from Sarreguemines, France. Inside a 1.5" rim there is a portrayal of FC (X 2). The front carries two inscriptions: "Fables de la Fontaine" and "Le Renard et le Corbeau." The back has "Fables de la Fontaine" and "Digoin/Sarreguemines/France." $33 from Brown Pelican Antiques, Panama City, FL, May, '99.
This illustration uses Grandville for the basic form of the raven but the rest of the scene is differently conceived. The briskly walking fox wears a cape and carries a hat.
1890? Two small brass FC buttons, 5/8" in diameter. $10 from Joni Goldbarg through Ebay, April, '99, and $3.25 from Darlene Focazio through Ebay, May, '99.
This button, by contrast with the Monleón exemplars, puts the fox on the lower right and the crow in the upper left. Tree branches shape the scene--and even make it hard to read on this small button! Closest in design to the larger button pictured in BBB on Plate 154 as #6. Like it, this button has a brass back and a self-shank.
1890? One brass FC button, 7/8" in diameter. $8.33 from Robin Larner, July, '99.
Identical in design with the two 5/8" FC buttons. BBB Plate 154 #6. Let me quote from there: "Stamped brass, cut out and backed by a painted metal liner, with a narrow, white metal underliner showing under the rim; brass back with self shank."
