2020 Heron and Snail Hard Enamel Pins. By Artsquach. Heron about 2½” x 2 ½”. $14 from ArtSquatch through Etsy, Dec., ’20. Smaller snail purchased from Artsquatch through Etsy for $8, July, ’21.
This is the most glorious fable heron I think I have seen! The heron is a very heavy pin! When I first ordered, I did not realize that the snail was a separate pin. Now, as I was cataloguing, I noticed and circled back. Lovely work! I know the heron fable well from La Fontaine. Was there really an Aesopic version?
2020 Heron and Snail Hard Enamel Pins. By Artsquach. Heron about 2½” x 2 ½”.
This is the most glorious fable heron I think I have seen! The heron is a very heavy pin! When I first ordered, I did not realize that the snail was a separate pin. Now, as I was cataloguing, I noticed and circled back. Lovely work! I know the heron fable well from La Fontaine. Was there really an Aesopic version?
2020 Fox and Grapes Hard Enamel Pin. By Artsquach. About 2½” x 2 ½”.
This is a beautiful pin that I missed when I first ordered a heron from ArtSquatch. This fox, like Caxton’s, just looks at the out-of-reach grapes. Lovely work!
1886 Article presenting the La Fontaine opera "Les Deux Pigeons." Pages 4-5 of "Journal Amusant," October 30, 1886. €10 at Clignancourt, July, '19.
"Les Deux Pigeons" is a touching story of two friends. One feels the need to travel but experiences nothing but trouble along the way. The other waits patiently at home. They are reunited. Apparently this fable inspired and provided lyrics for this opera, highly praised by the journal as it presents key characters and scenes.
1980? Arthur Rackham TH greeting card. 5" x 7". La Jolla, CA: Green Tiger Press. Gift of Ann Findley at Meandaur, June, '93.
Here is the delightful scene showing not only the tortoise and hare but others who witnessed the bet. There is no message inside the card. The publishing information on the back indicates that the same illustration is available as a postcard. Here the image is pasted onto the front of a simple card.
2000? Four refrigerator magnets made from monochrome illustrations by Arthur Rackham. 2" x 3". Clear acrylic. Unknown source.
Most refrigerator magnets that I have found so far in the world of fables are flexible slabs of magnetic material. These are clear cases formed around a copy of a Rackham illustration with a piece of that magnetic material on the back of the ensemble. The choice of subjects here is quite unusual! Maybe the artist was a lover of wolves!
1990? Arthur Court FG Wine and Champagne Ice Bucket with Lid. Aluminum. $60 from Melindatzsip through Ebay, August, ’25.
We have long had a lid, and I have wondered if it is from Arthur Court; I have even wondered “For what is this is a lid?” By luck today on Ebay, I found my answer. I was willing to settle future questions by buying a whole new bucket and lid. So now we have two Arthur Court lids! I still wonder if the fable here is more FG or FWT.
1984 Arthur Court Aesop's Fables tray featuring FWT. Heavy aluminum serving tray measuring approximately 24¼" x 15⅝ at the widest points.
The verso actually reads "Aesops fables by Arthur Court copyrighted 1984." The tray depicts foxes with a tailless fox at the center. There is a grape and leaf border design. A curiosity of this tray is that its obverse underneath the tray depicts the scene as exactly as the top of the tray does. The same tray seems to be selling on eBay these days for several hundred dollars. Click on either picture to see an enlarged picture.
2010? Pack of 8 postcards, a photo of oil on canvas depicting Aesop as painted b9y Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez. 6" x 4". $8 from Art247, Suffolk, England, Oct., '12.
The quality of photograph is extremely high. As the studio says, "Highest quality." I agree!
2010? Pack of 8 postcards, a photo of oil on canvas depicting CP by Lizzie Riches. 6" x 4". $8 from Art247, Suffolk, England, Oct., '12.
The quality of both painting and photograph are extremely high. As the studio says, "Highest quality." I agree!
1923 Argosy of Fables: Kroma-Paket. Kroma Paket No. 3. Pictures to Color--A New Kind of Outline Reproduction. Sandusky, OH/NY: The American Crayon Company. $3 from John Pacheco, Wallingford, CT, through Ebay, Feb., '01.
The pictures are acknowledged as coming from An Argosy of Fables by Frederick Tabor Cooper, with pictures by Paul Bransom. The cover shows the bear with its tail down a fishing hole. The package includes two colored illustrations, "If the ducks can swim there, why can't I?" and "They amused themselves by ringing it all the time." On top of each the following is written: "This serves to illustrate the effect a child can obtain after a few days' practice following the Kroma Paket instructions sheets." (Is this truth in advertising?!) The set includes eleven uncolored sheets and three sheets of specific color instructions for each. The set may be lacking the yet-to-be-colored page for the monkeys and their bell. Fables show up in the strangest places!
2017 "Arama" card of three stamps (2 of each) with a cover "Parables of the Sages." ID 026724. "The Fox in the Vineyard," "The Reed and the Cedar," and "The Lion and the Heron." $21 from Joshua Jacobovits, Shiloh, Israel, through eBay, July, '17.
The card is a booklet, perhaps meant for stamp collectors. The three stamps – FG, OR, and WS, with some slightly different names and animals – are worth 4.10 each. A curious feature is that the script on the stamps is 90 degrees different from the orientation of the image.
