1975? Here is a cake plate with an unusual teal-colored stripe around the rim. In the center is a titled-scene combining characters from various La Fontaine's fables, with the title "Les Fables de La Fontaine." With six serving plates for $199.99 from Gail Ward, Temple City, CA, through eBay, Nov., '05.
This large cake-plate features characters from all five smaller plates. These include FC, GA, MM, WC, and "The Lion and the Mosquito."
1930? Cigar box "Aesop."
Finding this cigar box was one of the biggest surprises I have had in collecting. Equally surprising is that I have never heard another whisper of "Aesop" cigars. Not a peep! What might Aesop have to do with cigars? By the way, this may be the handsomest Aesop I have seen. He is certainly not the "human turnip" of the popular lives of Aesop.
2005? Set of 6 photographic postcards by Éditeur M.T.I.L (Maurice Tesson Imprimeur à Limoges) presenting "The Cicada in Winter," based at least loosely on La Fontaine's "Cicada and Ant." "S. 73." Each card has a rhyming couplet. All addressed to the same party in Hérault, France. Several are apparently postmarked "February 23, 1905." $25 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonne Ricouart, France, Sept., '20.A rough translation of the poem follows:
The snowflakes have already covered the valleys.
Poor grasshopper shivers half naked in the street.
"Little friends, it’s the grasshopper that, rich in poverty, serenades you.
Just like me, gentle finches, you have lost your songs.
Who cares about tomorrow? Today, share my bread.
So that we can always sing summer and the beautiful days."
This highly sentimental presentation seems to presuppose La Fontaine's cicada, rejected in winter. She carries not the usual guitar but rather an accordion. The quality of the photography is not high. The poem presents one answer to the issue raised in La Fontaine's fable: "Who cares about the severity of winter. Live for the beauty of summer!" The human cicada seems to be a brooding and melancholic figure rather than a celebrator of life!
1995? FC. Chromovogue. Postmarked from Ainay le Chateau, June, '96. Printed in France. 7146 - 4. €1.50 from Gerard Crucy, Yerres, at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05.
The picture side of this card presents "Fable de la Fontaine" at the top and "Le corbeau et le renard" at the bottom. In between is a colorful, if playful, children's picture of a dressed fox looking up at a crow with a wedge of cheese in its beak. The red eyes of the fox, which match his red scarf, are very expectant.
1995? Four portrait-format postcards marked "Chromovogue." FC for €1.50 from Gerard Crucy, Yerres, at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05. The other three for €2 each at St. Ouen, August, '13.
At the top of each card is"Fable de La Fontaine" and at the bottom the title of the individual fable. Between these two is in each case a colorful, playful children's picture. In FC, the red eyes of the fox, which match his red scarf, are very expectant. In the other three, birds, butterflies, and ladybugs serve as spectators to the scenes.
1930? Chromo trade card of GGE. "Fables de La Fontaine. La poule aux oeufs d'or."
This is one of those trade cards with lovely coloring and energetic action, here sadly that of killing the hen. There is nothing I can find on this card to identify who printed it or when.
2000? Christmas Tree Ornaments of Fox and of Grapes. Glass. 3" and 2" in length. Gift of Margaret Carlson Lytton, Christmas, 2005.
I was able to find the fox online, from Jarmarkt.com in Frankfurt, Germany, who gave this description: " Glasfigur - mundgeblasen, handgeformt, handbemalt und aufwändig dekoriert" (glass figure, blown by mouth, formed by hand, painted by hand, lavishly decorated.) I agree! It is beautiful. The grapes have been surprisingly more difficult to find on the web; I have seen many without the detail here. Thank you, Meg, for finding these and putting them together!
2008 Christmas Tree Ornament of Tortoise and Hare. Glass. 4" in height. Made in China: Old World Christmas. Gift of Margaret Carlson Lytton, Christmas, 2008.
This ornament presenting the tortoise and hare as a buddies is still available on the web, I learned. The tortoise is particularly well done, with his sideways baseball cap and 1st place award. Thank you again, Meg!
1950? TH Noma Christmas Tree Light Cover.
Wow! Who would have thought it! Here is a plastic cone-like Christmas light cover shaped to fit a Noma candle. I cannot do better than to offer the seller's eBay description: "It is a white plastic, with a decal on it of the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise is actually pushing a huge snowball behind the hare, who's running like crazy! The decal is marked Noma and Walt Disney Enterprises, and is in amazingly great shape! The height of the cover is 1⅝" and the bottom diameter is 1½"." This has to be one of the more unexpected items in this whole collection!
1950? Russian Christmas Tree Garland of ten double-sided colored paper pictures of fairy tales and fables. Produced by Consumer goods of the production associat4ion" Polygraphist," Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Russia. $30 from Svetlykms, Belarus, through Ebay, Dec., '22.
Now here is an ephemeral rarity! I recognize four of these twenty images as at least potentially illustrating fables. Two fit well with Krylov's "Quartet." One is unmistakably FC. There could be many stories for the fox carrying away the rooster. It may be the old "Chanticleer" story that we know best from Chaucer. This is certainly a competitor for the "most unusual" object in the collection. I for one have never experienced a Christmas garland. I think I heard of popcorn strung up on a Christmas tree. Even the package has survived!
