1890? One FS button, ½" in diameter, showing the stork from FS with a long tall vase. $10 from an unknown source at an unknown time.
One of the smallest buttons in our collection. Might there have been a matching mini-button of the fox and a shall dish? I had to scan this little gem, print it, and rotate it for a while before I could make out the tiny figures.
1890? One FS button, ½" in diameter, showing the stork from FS with a long tall vase. $10 from an unknown source at an unknown time.
One of the smallest buttons in our collection. Might there have been a matching mini-button of the fox and a shall dish? I had to scan this little gem, print it, and rotate it for a while before I could make out the tiny figures.
1995 One FDC from Albania featuring "Zhan de la Fonten." Postmarked August 20, 1995. The three full-color stamps used for posting the letter display each a variety of fable characters. Even the postmark is peculiar to La Fontaine. $20.50 John Rydzewski at JR Stamps through Ebay, Feb., '02.
Now here is a surprise! I would not have thought of Albania as a country that would celebrate Jean de la Fontaine. The spiffy design on the envelope, rendered in brown, blue, and violet, slenderizes and stylizes La Fontaine as he almost dances up to a book with pen in hand. The first of the stamps, worth 2 leke, includes TT, BC, WC, and LM. The second stamp, worth 3 leke, features FG, FC, FS, and DS. On the third, worth 25 leke, I think I can make out AD, OR, and perhaps OF. The characters seem to be rendered in pastels of some sort.
1994 One FDC envelope from Australia celebrating the World Masters Games in Brisbane during September and October, '94. The postmark from Sydney confirms the first day of issue as August 11, '94. The left half of the envelope presents TH in three different forms. $3.25 from Lawrence and Rose Bove, St. Ives, New South Wales, Australia, through Ebay, July, '00.
The hare leads the tortoise in swimming and cycling, but the tortoise seems to have arrived first at the goal in running. The 45c stamp, which is part of the envelope's own material, lists events from archery through weightlifti
1990? One dessert plate illustrating FC. On the front is "Fables de la Fontaine" and "Le Corbeau et le Renard." On the back of the plate is "Musée de la Faiencerie de Gien." Gien: France. £2.99 from Karen Dillon, St. Saviour, Jersey, Feb., '06.
This plate is identical in form to the FC plate in the set of six dessert plates by the Musée de la Faiencerie de Gien. Where, however, that plate used gray, this plate uses black. The impression is quite different!
1990? One imperforate stamp showing FS. Maroon and blue. 35F. Republique du Dahomey. Signed "Haley." $8.49 from Westminster Stamp Gallery, Ltd., Foxboro, MA, through eBay, August, '05.
This stamp comes out of nowhere for me. I did not know of its existence. I suspect that it has several companions in a series of either La Fontaine fables or FS. It presents the climactic moment in which the stork can get food out of the vase but the fox cannot.
1910? One colored TH card advertising the Donnell Manufacturing Co. of St. Louis. 3" x 4¼".
A colorful scene of the finish line, approached by the hare while the tortoise is beyond it. Nothing on the reverse. The front promises: "Donnell's healing salve cures cuts, sores, boils, burns, frosted ears and feet. Cures bruises, burns, boils, sores, scalds, ulcers, carbuncles, chilblains, bites of insects, cuts and wounds." What does it not do?
1890? One colored small card (2½" x 3¾") advertising Boudier "Pates Alimentaires" and showing two mice with an egg.
The color work in this card is exceptional. Boudier claims awards 1867-1878. The image is a clear reference to the two mice or rats with an egg, but what is the chick doing in the picture? Advertising on the verso. No reference to La Fontaine or the fable.
1880? One colored FS plate. 10¼" in diameter. Slightly scalloped rim. "Ye Stork Inviteth ye Fox to Dinner." £9 from Franklin Giles, Romney Marsh, Kent, UK, through eBay, Sept., '11.
The lively and beautifully colored picture spreads across the center of the plate onto its rim. Print outlines the illustration to the upper right. A floral branch circles the rest of the plate. The artist's moment here is the revenge moment: the stork gets back at the fox by offering food only he can reach. There are several small chips around the edges. The trademark seal on the back is joined by a lovely image from the fable world: two pots sailing on a river. The "Rd" of the trademark is here surrounded, clockwise from the top, by 12, Y, W, and 12, with IV over the whole mark.
1890? One colored French trade card featuring children in WL and advertising M. Léon Houet in Brou (Eure-et-Loir) who makes tailored clothes and furniture. 2 3/8" x 3 7/8".
This is a strong image, apparently of a bully holding something away from another child. The picture is framed in gold, with a block-print title at the lower right. See "Royal Windsor" stock series cards for a less confined view of this stock scene.
1890? One colored French card with FC pictured in portrait format above a medallion and signature of "De lafontaine."2¾" x 4¼". The verso advertises "Moka & Chicorées Extra du Docteur Fabriqués par Joseph Lervilles."
This card presents in smaller format exactly the same picture found on a postcard displayed under "Single Postcards" and dated to "1950?" Apparently, Lervilles Moka du Docteur and Chicorée du Docteur were made near Cambrai.
1900? One colored French card presenting a scene from MM and advertising "Maison du Pont-Neuf." 1¾" x 2¾". St. Ouen, August, '15.
The pretty woman with brightly striped clothing and matching headdress is apparently weeping while spilt milk lies on the ground. "Il est parti." The verso has a listing of days of the month and week in "Septem" and Octobre with matching letters and names. For what? In what year? And am I right in assuming that the milk is "departed" and this is La Fontaine's milkmaid?
1900? One colored French card presenting a scene from La Fontaine's fable "Le Savetier et le Financier" with an inserted label and medallion portrait of the author. 3" x 4¼". The verso advertises Moka du Docteur & Chicorée du Docteur of Joseph Lervilles.
The Lervilles verso is similar to but not identical with the verso of a card I have listed under "1890?" picturing FC and offering a signature of La Fontaine. This card is also slightly larger. Whatever the printing technique used on this card, it makes a scanner go crazy at high resolutions. Weird things come out of the attempt to scan it!
1915? One colored French card illustrating "The Fox, the Traveller, and the Snake" and advertising on its verso Chicorée Extra and Daniel Voelcker-Coumes. From Boulevard des Ecritures, St. Ouen, August, '15.
This card is curious in several ways. It has the same instepped borders and is in fact identical with the text and image of a stock trade card in the "5430" series. I also have other trade cards in a different format from Chicorée Extra and Daniel Voelcker-Coumes.
1890? One colored French card advertising "La Bonne Cafetière." Pictured is La Fontaine's "L'Avare qui a perdu son Tresor." Cropped to 3 7/8" x almost 2¾".
The card seems to have all the earmarks of the set I have labeled "L'Agence Général Standard/Delorme-Gauthier." It seizes a dramatic human moment, for example, and uses block letters. It does not, however, place the block letters in a circle or in an unusual place on the picture. The verso is blank.
1880? One colored FC cake pedestal. 8½" in diameter. About 2¾" high. Sculpted rim on both the stand the plate itself. "Ye Crow and Ye Pitcher." From an unknown source.
This is a lovely piece of work. The black crow stands out in the center of the plate with a stone in his beak. Next to him is a red flower atop a green stem. The crow is perched on a red and brown surface and is ready to drop the stone into a gray vase. "Ye Crow and Ye Pitcher" runs from 12 o'clock to 4 o'clock. The base has an attached label: "28 Jan. 1879." The "Rd" of the trademark is here surrounded, clockwise from the top, by 28, Y, C(?), and 11, with IV over the whole mark. Very nice color work here!
1905? One colored CJ card advertising Johnston's Corn Flour. 2 5/8"x 4 1/8".
The golden background distinguishes this card, which has been cropped, bent, and is in only fair condition. The choice of a girl to complement the rooster in the illustration is surprising. What might she have to do with the fable's story? The text is in fact James' version verbatim, where no particular human being is mentioned. That version is unusual because it actually ends up contradicting the fable: "The Cock was a sensible Cock; but there are many silly people who despise what is precious only because they cannot understand it." The verso quotes Augustus Voelcker, chemist of the Royal Agricultural Society, on the value of corn flour. I have found a whole booklet of 24 images in this style.
1920? One colored card with a portrait panel of La Fontaine on the left and a picture panel on the right of "Le Laboureur et ses Enfants," including a moral. An apparent advertising panel above is empty. The verso contains again La Fontaine's name and dates and a paragraph on his work.
The card seems to belong to something like a series of great French writers. The worker's sons pay more attention than I would have expected. Perhaps they have already heard the magic word "treasure"! It is surprising that the card bears no advertising at all.
1920? One colored card with a circular portrait of La Fontaine on the left and a picture of FC on the right. "Auteurs Celebres" with 84 subjects announced on the picture side, along with the opening line of the fable. One copy adds "Chocolat Félix Potin" on the picture side and verso. It was printed by F. Champenois in Paris. The other copy adds nothing on the picture side but its verso is an advertisement for François Ledouarec, a grocer in Saint-Brieuc.
The card belongs to a series of great French writers, and thus, I suppose, it will always stay as a single in this collection. Perhaps at some point I will be lucky enough to find a Florian card in the set. The Potin card advertises the celebrity photographs and collectable stamps that one finds in 500 gram portions of Potin's chocolate.
1895? One colored card showing a moment in GA -- "Dansez Maintenant" -- and advertising Chocolat Poulain. St. Ouen, August, '15.
This card replicates one advertising "Aux Deux Passages." A surprising thing is that Chocolat Poulain used various kinds of fable cards to advertise. The curtsy here that invites the cicada to dance is beautifully rendered but downright mean!
1890? One colored card advertising J. & P. Coats Thread. 3" x 4½".
This is one of the most dramatic trade cards I have. The lion is bound up with threads, and the mouse sits perched on a spool of J. & P. Coats Best Six Cord thread. The other side of the card gives the fable and a long application, both apparently taken verbatim from Croxall. The card's picture is in a style different from all other Coats cards I have found, especially when it inserts three colored boxes to give information: "Spool cotton," "For hand and machine," and "See the other side for fable."
1881? One colored card advertising J. & P. Coats Needles and Threads. 3" x 4½".
As in the 1881 card copyrighted by Auchincloss, a monkey restrains a cat by means of a Coats thread while he holds a fish before the cat's face. On the back of this card, by contrast with that, is an advertisement for J. & P. Coats which starts "We will not weary you with statistics…." Statistics made up the whole back of the other card! A dealer has noted on the back of the card that it is pictured in Cheadle, Victorian Trade Cards (and now, three weeks later, I cannot find it there!).
1881 One colored card advertising J. & P. Coats Needles and Threads. Copyrighted, 1881, Auchincloss & Bro., NY. 3" x 4½".
A monkey restrains a cat by means of a Coats thread while he holds a fish before the cat's face. On the back is a table of sewing machines, needles, and threads.
1908? One colored "The Trick Bear and His Keeper" card advertising Heydt's "Yankee" bread. 2¾" x almost 4".
Again, an arc divides this colored image into sections. The title and picture both make the bear into a doer of tricks; the text knows nothing of this description. The befriending is shown in the upper left section; the rest of the card's picture shows the result of this bear's care for his friend. "Quantity and Quality are both found in Heydt's 'Yankee' bread. A trial will be convincing."
1908? One colored "The Man and His Goose" card advertising Stapler Crackers from the Original Trenton Cracker Company. "3⅛ x 4⅜"
Sickle-like arcs divide the colored image into three sections. The large center portion shows the goose having laid a golden egg. Arcs enclosing the upper right separate a picture of the man having killed the goose. The arcs at the lower left show the repentant man having found nothing unusual inside the goose. The picture uses a different title: "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg." It does not punctuate "Aesops." The text side has "Printed in Germany." It introduces a long description of its product with this question: "Do You Use the Cracker Stamped 'Stapler'? If not, why not?"
In a curious way, the cards from this series come in two different sizes: 3⅛" x 4⅜" and 2¾" x 4"
"3⅛ x 4⅜"
