2020? 6 Colored fable cards: original art by Susana Cereja. FC; GA; OF; LS; AD; and DW. $20.87 through Etsy, March, ‘21. One extra set.
What a delightful set of illustrations! Though they are listed as postcards, they do not have the usual verso of a postcard. For now, I treat them as fable cards. My favorites are FC, where the fox is playing a violin for the willing crow, and DW, which features the dog tightening his formal necktie. Well done, Susana! In GA, what is on the monochromatic egg’s side besides a broom: ant eggs or unlimited food for the future?
2015 Sun Catcher Featuring TH. Chinese. Orcara. Unknown source.
It takes very little sunshine to get this tortoise to move his oversized head! According to web resources, Orcara is a Chinese toy manufacturer that produces a diverse range of high quality miniatures. This TH sun catcher seems no longer to be available. This bunny sleeps while the tortoise wobbles proudly on the victor's stand.
2007? Package of "Erstein Sucre enveloppé." Les Fables de La Fontaine. 192 packets of two sugar cubes, each packet wrapped in a paper illustrating a fable. I kilogram package, 5¾" x 4" x 3". Unknown source.
I remember marveling over this find. Our images may not be the best: we have wrapped the heavy cube in cellophane packaging to try to preserve it, even though that it means I have never seen the little packages. A little research shows that Erstein had this label copyrighted from 2004 to 2014. Why did I not find another brick when I could?! I find no reference to it on the web other than from the French copyright office. That copyright is #3298163.
1930? Twelve numbered cards from the 269 series of 12 portrait-formatted trade cards advertising Suchard products. La Fontaine fables. €33 each from collectomania, Oct., '22.
These cards follow the pattern found in the later cards of having each card advertise one of Suchard's particular products. In this case, the product itself is pictured as part of the front of the card. The verso of each is highly ornamental. At the top, five Suchard products are listed. Under "Suchard," a text-box features at least a portion of the fable. Around this text-box is a repeated design of various fable characters. "Série 269" is at the bottom right of each verso.
1980? Twelve numbered cards in strong portrait format (2⅜" x 4⅛") distributed among five "families" of Suchard: Chocolat, Velma, Milka, Cacao, and Noisettine. €25 from Albert Van den Bosch, Antwerp, Belgium, Feb., '12. BF from olivier9682 through Ebay for €6.50, July, '22.
Some of these cards still have the feel that the powder with which they came is still on them. Strong colors and simple forms mark these cards, which are quite different from the more traditional Suchard landscape cards. The identifying numbers between "1" and "12" can be hard to find but they are there in the corner of the image segment.
1910? Four numbered cards from a series of 12 landscape formatted trade cards advertising Suchard products. La Fontaine fables. €30 each from collectomania, Oct., '22.
The verso of each card shows a woman in kerchief with four children and a cat and the notation "Série 235." The front of each card follows a formula including a green or green-and-red rectangular border; a scene of children that overflows the borders of that rectangle; some Suchard product with its name; the title of the La Fontaine fable; and a few verses from the original fable. Some of the illustrations start to become a bit grotesque, particularly WC and "The Bear and the Gardener." We have now #4, 5, 11, and 12. Let's find the other eight!
1905? 12 numbered French cards of La Fontaine fables from Chocolat Suchard. 2 3/8" x slightly more than 4". $63 from Marie Foreman, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, through Ebay, Feb., '02. The last two cards for $10 from Albert Van den Bosch, Antwerp, Belgium, April, '13.
These small landscape-formatted cards offer beautiful colored pictures of human scenes exemplifying animal fables. The picture-side includes "Chocolat Suchard," a number up to 12, and a title. The verso, sometimes showing a glue-tear, comes in four different patterns. In each of the patterns, a title and excerpts from the fable occur beneath an elaborate monocolor floral or animal background, "Neuchatel, Suisse," and mention of London, Paris, and New York offices. The addresses are the same in each format. Each format also mentions "Exposition Universelle Paris 1900 Grand Prix." The colored illustration cleverly includes both the animal scene and some Suchard product into the human scene. Even a bridge and a road bear the Suchard name! Do not miss in "Les Deux Coqs" the dramatic confrontation of two men in the farmyard, while a young woman looks on. The joker in FC is about to lure the Suchard chocolate from the vain dandy who carries it. The scene in "Le Rat et l'Huitre" is complex. A boy stealing packages of Suchard chocolate is about to experience the jaws of an attacking dog, just as the rat probing an oyster is about to have the oyster snap shut on his or her head!
1955? Five different Italian postcards with verse text and colored picture on one side and room for a message and address on the other. 3 3/8" x 5 3/8". Though the card stock is cheap, the color work is very nice. It seems to involve about four colors per card. The visual works are signed by "stefanini" (?). Studio Stefan. A cura dell'Associazione Cardinal Ferrari. 10,000 Lire each at the Porta Portese flea market, August, '98. One extra of "La Cornacchia Superba." Click on any image to see it full-size.
