2023? Plush "Wolf in Sheepskin" figure. Total length 12". Polyester fibers. Made in China. $15 from Judaicaman: Joshua Jacobovitz, Shilo, Israel, Jan., '25.
Joshua tells me that this figure is available in many sizes. It does a good job of combining wolf and sheepskin, especially in the "hood" portion of the sheepskin, separated from the wolf's head but attached to the sheepskin body.
1970? Playskool TH puzzle. Wood. 12-piece. 290-01. Made in U.S.A. $4.25 from James Richter, New Paltz, NY, through Ebay, July, '00.
I remember this sort of puzzle fondly from my childhood. A heavy back supports the cut-out outline of the upper level of the puzzle. The large pieces fit right in. This simple puzzle pictures a very happy tortoise! For fun, I offer views of the puzzle both inside its borders and alone. Click on either to see a large contrast of the two.
1948 Playola Record Album "Famous Fables." Three records presenting LM; SW; TH, and BW. album No. 105.
The album's four interior pages present each a rhyming quatrain for one of the fables. "'Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!' I cried. The villagers hastened to my side. But they were angry, everyone, When they found out I'd called for fun." Good condition. I am cataloguing these records, if my research guesses are accurate, nine years after we acquired them.
2020 Playmobil Set 70621: "Aesop's Fables." 30 pieces, including a story booklet. Greek texts. $37.50 from happy*sheriff through Ebay, July, '21.
This is a cute and clever set of figures for presenting seven of Aesop's fables. The booklet and package texts are all in Greek. Not for purchase in the USA. The animals' heads can be raised and lowered. Human heads can be turned, and arms move up and down. I had thought that the grown man figure was Aesop; he may be, but he is also the human adult in SS and MSA.
1970? Playhouse Presentation of The Aesop’s Fables. NY: Aim Record Distribution, Inc. Aim S 828. For Sprowls, Silverstein, Reynolds, Seradge, Pratt, A Joint Venture. Unknown source.
This 33 LPM record is among the simplest offerings we have found. The album presents little information; its back invites students to color in the pictures. The one reference I can find on the web seems to be of a seller offering an AIM album with a similar title but with different album illustrations on both front and back. The use of “The” in this record’s title is unusual.
1927 Fables of Aesop. From engravings by W. Hollar, etc., MDCLXV. Series of XXV. About 3" x 2½". Player's Cigarettes. Issued by John Player & Sons, Branch of the Imperial Tobacco Company (of Great Britain and Ireland), Limited. $76 at Murray Cards International, Cecil Court, London, July, '92.
Excellent reproductions in good condition. All but two ("The Covetous Man and the Goose" [#6] and DM [#23]) match my reprint of the 1668 Ogilby The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse. Unusually squat size for cigarette cards. My favorites in this group include "The Dog and the Thief" (X), "The Husbandman and the Serpent" (XVII), and the classic LM (XX).
1960? Plastic statuette of Jean de La Fontaine. 2½" high. Mokarex deposé.
This unpainted statuette has a small piece chipped out of the front right corner of its base. Mokarex is a well known producer of many small plastic statues. Online resources indicated the date of this production of La Fontaine, with name and date and his beloved Renard at his feet.
1940? Plastic FG charm with inscription “Fox N’ Grapes.” 1" x .5" outside of the ring.
This looks like a cracker jack “toy” or gumball vending prize. Unfortunately, the web offers no help on finding a series to which this might belong. The name on one face tends to obliterate the scene. The other face helps us to see the fox and the grapes. Since the inscription is written at 90 degrees from the scene itself, I offer three different views.
1920? Four colored portrait-format cards with no artist, publisher, or advertiser. 2½" x 4".
UP, "The Angler and the Little Fish"; "The Ass and the Lapdog"; "The Monkey and the Leopard." The most distinguishing feature of these cheaply colored cards lies in the printer's designs flanking both "Fables de La Fontaine" on the top of the card and also a banner at the base of the card. This banner includes the fable's title and one line from the fable. The first three have the French fable text on the verso; "The Monkey and the Leopard" advertises rather Tisane Cisbey for constipation. The picture in UP seems taken from the same design as a single card in the collection.
1955? Place de la Fontaine Quebec City Dinner Menu. 9½" x 14½". $7.71 from thejumpingfrog through Ebay, May, '08.
Despite my best hopes, I believe that this menu has nothing to do with fables but only with a lovely fountain I Quebec City. But since I have it and can never be sure, I will include it here. A steak cost $21 Canadian at that time. I bet that the price has gone up since then.
2000? Pin. Fox Serves Stork Food. U13K. 1" x 1.4". USSR. Unknown source.
Some research online strong suggests that this is one of a set of fairy tale pins and that no other fables belong to the set. FS in Russia became a highly developed folktale. I am curious about what sort of food the fox here is bringing the stork.
1920? Thirteen trade cards 2¾" x 4⅛". Pilules Laxative Lucas. Colored illustrations by (H.) Rougeron-Vignerot and (Ferdinand) Bac. Paris: Imp. Des Arts et Manufactures. Different advertisements for Pilules Lucas on each verso.
For small illustrations apparently done cheaply, the effect is remarkably good here. In DLS, is the young mule-master actually smiling over the mule's antics? The terrified man who has seen a camel for the first time is well done! The scolding schoolmaster is well done. The signature of Rougeron-Vignerot is hard to decipher here. I appreciated help on the web. Both the position and the posture of the wolf looking down on the lamb just emerging from the water are well chosen. This wolf also carries a dagger. The advertisements on the verso carry lively headlines like "Mort Subite"; "Vive la Liberté"; and "Le Secret d'un Centenaire." These cards duplicate a sete of "Bon Point" cards listed elsewhere.
2010? Pillow or cushion cover illustrating “The Mouse, the Frog, and the Hawk.” 28.6” x 19”. Unknown source.
I presume that this is a cushion or pillow cover, since it has an opening for something to be put inside. Illustrating this fable is rather unusual!
2000? Pillow featuring a fox and four sets of grapes. 16" square. Unknown source and date of acquisition.
For me, the great feature of this lovely pillow is the fabric that makes up the body of the fox. Its red material has a floral pattern. The stitching establishing the fox's face is also excellent. I hope to discover where we found this. Might we even know its maker?
2022? Twelve pillow covers illustrating a variety of fable characters. 18” x 18”. Made in China. $7.50 each through Joshua Jacobovitz, Jan., ’25.
There is something strange about almost every member of this unusual set of pillow covers. Almost each cover illustrates characters from standard Aesop’s fables, but few get the relationship of the characters right. The fox sits in the midst of grapes here while the fable has him unable and even trying in vain to get them. The fable has the cheese in the crow's beak, and the fox cleverly gets the crow to sing. Here they share cheese or -- perhaps in a deliberate parody -- the fox offers the crow a piece of cheese! Further, what is the fox doing with rooster's claws rather than fox's paws?
2020? Pillow cover with pillow material illustrating FC. Sharon Turner. 16" x 16".
This is ebullient art at its best! Only the crow is slightly understated, while everything else in the scene is richly developed! Well done!
2000? Pillow “Les Grenouilles Qui Demandent un Roi.” 30” x 19.5”. 100% polyester. Made in China; printed in USA. Unknown source.
The design here is taken from a French match box. I am not sure that expanding so small an image makes for a defined image on a large object like this, but the king stork and his victim are all too clear!
