Of Cats and Collections
A while back, I posted a picture of Sophie sitting on top of the cabinet where I display a number of my porcelain cat figurines. The seed of the collection was my mother's Royal Doulton Siamese cat figurine. I suspect the collection began to grow during a period of unemployment when I had far too much time on my hands and very little brain for being thrifty. The collection is now larger than it appears in the above-linked photograph, the number of figures totaling 37 grouped artfully about the house, a little less than a third of which are not much bigger than my thumb.
This morning I got distracted online and found myself back at The Source of All Collectible Cats (also known as eBay), where I perused something like 15 pages of figures up for auction. I tagged a number for watching but didn't bid (an act of pure self control of which I'm enormously proud). And I realized at that point that my standards for my collection are in some ways pretty rigid, pretty exacting though I've never specifically articulated them. These standards include the following points:
-- The figure must be porcelain or some form of ceramic.
-- The figure must depict a cat in a realistic way, not cutesy* or exaggerated. For example, the cat should not have flirty little eye lashes**, an overly large head, or overly large eyes.
-- The figure should be just the cat: no toys, boxes, baskets, or ribbons and bows tied around their necks. (This rule may be construed as a corollary to the "not cutesy" rule.)
-- The figure should be no more than 5 or 6 inches tall.
-- In an ideal world, the figure should have some sort of maker's mark on the bottom.***
Another element that often determines the desirability of a cat for my collection is the manufacturer. I will often look for cats from fine figurine makers that are not already represented in the collection. For example, the collection currently includes cats from Royal Doulton, Lenox, Lomonosov, and Graelenthal. I have yet to acquire -- and continue to pursue -- figures from Herend, Bing & Grondahl (now part of Royal Copenhagen and so becoming a little more scarce), Royal Beswick (which are actually a little cutesy for my taste), and Lladro among others. All of these are higher-end manufacturers and their products, even second-hand, ain't cheap. So I watch eBay and I wait. (I'm actually watching a Lladro cat on eBay right now that's at a ridiculously good price, given that the figure is listed and shown to be in excellent condition.)
And, of course, some cats are products of the situations in which I discover them. For example, I bought a beautiful little maneki nekko in Narita, and my lovely white Graelenthal in Germany. I brought home a malachite lion from Kenya. I will, naturally, be looking for cat figurines as I travel in Europe this fall. I will make key exceptions to my rules when I travel because it's likely that if I don't purchase a figure I really like while I'm away, I'll never see it again.
Why a collection? My life is filled with collections: elongated coins, regular coins, porcelain ladies, porcelain hands, signed and limited edition art prints, plants, friends. It's a Thing. But I don't think any of my collections has quite such exacting standards as the cats. And I think the reason that's the case is that I'm not generally a cutesy sort of person -- you don't see Precious Moments figurines in my house, for example, and probably never will. I cringe at that sort of preciousness, and cats are all too susceptible to such treatment. Cats are graceful creatures who have enriched my life, so my collection tries to respect their gifts. The result is a collection of figures that I never tire of admiring. They please me, and are an important part of what makes my house my home.
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* I made an exception to this rule when I purchased a beautiful little maneki nekko in Japan. It's a cultural thing and it's a lovely little souvenir.
** I made an exception for a vintage figurine that in every other way meets my requirements. And the lashes aren't big. :-)
*** I have broken this standard regularly because there are simply too many lovely little figurines to choose from. That said, about half my collection meets this standard.
This morning I got distracted online and found myself back at The Source of All Collectible Cats (also known as eBay), where I perused something like 15 pages of figures up for auction. I tagged a number for watching but didn't bid (an act of pure self control of which I'm enormously proud). And I realized at that point that my standards for my collection are in some ways pretty rigid, pretty exacting though I've never specifically articulated them. These standards include the following points:
-- The figure must be porcelain or some form of ceramic.
-- The figure must depict a cat in a realistic way, not cutesy* or exaggerated. For example, the cat should not have flirty little eye lashes**, an overly large head, or overly large eyes.
-- The figure should be just the cat: no toys, boxes, baskets, or ribbons and bows tied around their necks. (This rule may be construed as a corollary to the "not cutesy" rule.)
-- The figure should be no more than 5 or 6 inches tall.
-- In an ideal world, the figure should have some sort of maker's mark on the bottom.***
Another element that often determines the desirability of a cat for my collection is the manufacturer. I will often look for cats from fine figurine makers that are not already represented in the collection. For example, the collection currently includes cats from Royal Doulton, Lenox, Lomonosov, and Graelenthal. I have yet to acquire -- and continue to pursue -- figures from Herend, Bing & Grondahl (now part of Royal Copenhagen and so becoming a little more scarce), Royal Beswick (which are actually a little cutesy for my taste), and Lladro among others. All of these are higher-end manufacturers and their products, even second-hand, ain't cheap. So I watch eBay and I wait. (I'm actually watching a Lladro cat on eBay right now that's at a ridiculously good price, given that the figure is listed and shown to be in excellent condition.)
And, of course, some cats are products of the situations in which I discover them. For example, I bought a beautiful little maneki nekko in Narita, and my lovely white Graelenthal in Germany. I brought home a malachite lion from Kenya. I will, naturally, be looking for cat figurines as I travel in Europe this fall. I will make key exceptions to my rules when I travel because it's likely that if I don't purchase a figure I really like while I'm away, I'll never see it again.
Why a collection? My life is filled with collections: elongated coins, regular coins, porcelain ladies, porcelain hands, signed and limited edition art prints, plants, friends. It's a Thing. But I don't think any of my collections has quite such exacting standards as the cats. And I think the reason that's the case is that I'm not generally a cutesy sort of person -- you don't see Precious Moments figurines in my house, for example, and probably never will. I cringe at that sort of preciousness, and cats are all too susceptible to such treatment. Cats are graceful creatures who have enriched my life, so my collection tries to respect their gifts. The result is a collection of figures that I never tire of admiring. They please me, and are an important part of what makes my house my home.
-------------
* I made an exception to this rule when I purchased a beautiful little maneki nekko in Japan. It's a cultural thing and it's a lovely little souvenir.
** I made an exception for a vintage figurine that in every other way meets my requirements. And the lashes aren't big. :-)
*** I have broken this standard regularly because there are simply too many lovely little figurines to choose from. That said, about half my collection meets this standard.