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You are here: Home / Archives for Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs egg cups

Fiesta, An Egg Cup & A Movie

March 28, 2019 at 10:41 am by Claudia

You remember my recent post about the Fiesta collection I used to own? And how I lament my decision to sell it? I referenced a Fiesta yellow footed compote that used to sit on my kitchen table back in the days when I lived in Cambridge, MA. That bright pop of yellow and the simple, yet beautiful lines of the compote made it one of my favorite pieces.

Well, reader Kelli reached out to me in the comments, saying that she had that compote and was about to sell it, and several weeks later, here we are.

It arrived yesterday. Isn’t it gorgeous? The timing was perfect – it looks like it was meant to be sitting next to those tulips.

My plan is to put it in the center of the kitchen table when I move the fern back out to the porch.

I’m torn about the fern, which is looking better than it did on the porch, simply because light is coming at it from all sides. But it won’t do well with the air conditioner, which sits in that window. So it does have to go back outside. I’ll have to turn it more often. (As you can tell, I’ve bonded with the fern.)

Anyway, back to the compote. I’m so happy to have one again! Thank you so much, Kelli. Kelli lives in my home state of Michigan. Michiganders are the nicest people! There, I’ve said it.

In other news, imagine my happiness when I saw that a Sleepy egg cup was up for auction on eBay.

Then imagine my shock when I saw the price:

Whoa! I don’t think so.

What makes this frustrating is the fact that I NEVER see Sleepy egg cups come up for auction. And to finally see it, but listed at a ridiculously exorbitant price? Big sigh of disappointment.

There’s a little story about these cups. The one you’re looking at in the above listing is the original design for the cup. There are also Sleepy egg cups out there that look exactly like Sneezy; the same dwarf, same facial expression, only the name is Sleepy, not Sneezy.

Both are collectible: one for its accuracy, the other for what must have been some sort of weird production choice. I’d love to know the real story behind it. Anyway, maybe I should play the lottery today…perhaps I could come up with $400.00. I’m going to follow the auction simply because I’m curious. Will someone actually buy it? Will there be multiple bids? Or will the auction time out with no bids?

You can almost buy a whole set of the egg cups for that amount. In fact, I’ve seen them listed for $350.00.

We had one of our movie nights with Doug and Rick last night. We watched The Misfits, one of my favorite movies. So powerful. The stories about that film! Marilyn Monroe was often late to the set. Arthur Miller, her husband at the time, was the screenwriter. They were in the process of separating. Gable insisted on doing some of his stunts, one of which was in the scene where he gets dragged by a wild Mustang. One day after the filming was completed, Gable had a heart attack and eleven days later, he died. Monroe died the next year. Montgomery Clift (one of my favorite actors) died five years later. I think it was the best work of both Monroe and Gable.  It’s a haunting film, directed by the great John Huston (who apparently was often late to the set because he’d been up all night gambling) and one where I have to cover my eyes at times. The scenes of them roping the wild mustangs are difficult to watch. But the story and the power of that film! The four of us talked about it for an hour afterwards.

And Rick, who is becoming an excellent baker, made a flourless chocolate cake. Oh my heavens! We cheated on our diet, of course. You would have, too!

Okay. Have to go mail the bills.

Happy Thursday.

 

Filed Under: egg cups, Fiesta, movies, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs egg cups 38 Comments

Hibernating

January 15, 2019 at 11:01 am by Claudia

Just because I like looking at this cabinet. I pass it countless times a day because it’s at the bottom of the stairs, with the bathroom just to the right. Can’t miss it. It never fails to make me smile.

Now I just need that Sleepy egg cup. Still looking. Still slightly obsessing over it. Regular egg cups are pretty and I like them, but figural egg cups are whimsical and happy-making. They are still my first love, they’re just harder to find nowadays. I think I got into collecting figural egg cups in the nick of time. I managed to scoop them up before they disappeared. I still see them occasionally, but not nearly as much as I did in 2002 – 2005.

It’s friggin’ cold here! The kind of cold that makes you want to hibernate inside the house all day. I didn’t get around to my closet yesterday, as I was washing sheets, cleaning the house and the bathroom, watering all the plants, and doing some research. I think I’ll start on it today.

The weather forecast is saying there’s potential for a big winter storm on Saturday and Sunday, with lots of snow and ice. Let’s hope that ‘potential’ fizzles out. I wouldn’t mind a bit of snow, but snow and ice? No and no and no. Other than that freak snowfall in October, we’ve been pretty lucky so far. Can we just keep it that way, Mother Nature?

We watched part of Bruce Springsteen on Broadway  last night.  We’re going to finish it tonight. I cannot say enough about this show. It’s just Bruce, telling us about his life and career in his poetic words and images, both spoken and sung (accompanied by acoustic guitar.) It’s amazing. I’m not a big Springsteen fan, by the way – I mean, I like and respect him, I just never listened to a lot of his music. But you don’t have to be a fan to enjoy this filmed version of his recently closed Broadway show. I have friends who saw it live and raved about it and now I know why. It’s on Netflix and I recommend it highly. It’s honest and touching and funny and powerful.

I’m reading the newest James Lee Burke – The New Iberia Blues. It was published last week. Excellent, as always. There’s none better.

That’s it, my friends. Winter brings too much time indoors, a sense of hibernation, no flowers in the garden, no critters running around outside. It gets a bit harder for me every year, though I try very hard to find beauty in the stark landscape.

Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: egg cups, media, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs egg cups, winter 26 Comments

A Collecting Story

August 7, 2018 at 10:13 am by Claudia

A story for you today. And you well know that everything I have here in the cottage has a story.

You know I collect egg cups. I’ve been collecting figural egg cups since 2002, not long after we moved East. In the beginning, I did what I always do, I researched. I bought the only book on the subject. I poured over photos. I bid for them on eBay. I found many wonderful figural egg cups that are very hard to find nowadays. That book mentioned a set of  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs egg cups that were made for Walt Disney Enterprises in 1937 and I was entranced by them. At the time, a full set was worth at least $1000 – $1500.

Over the course of most of the past 16 years, I had managed to acquire two of them. Only two. They don’t come up for auction that often. Then, either last year or the year before, two more came up for auction at separate times and I snagged them. I now had four of the dwarfs; Bashful, Dopey, Grumpy and Doc.

Snow White never came up for auction.

Shortly before Don was due to move back home, a Snow White in Australia came up for auction on eBay and I immediately bid on her. I was the leading bidder for several days. We moved Don back home on a Sunday. The auction was due to end the following Wednesday. We were exhausted, both physically and spiritually, and we spent those first few days just hanging around.

I was so  exhausted that I completely forgot about the end of the auction until I read my emails and found out I’d been outbid and then that I’d lost out. All because we were sitting outside and my brain was fried. I was so upset! I figured that had been my one and only chance.

Some time went by. One day, I had an idea. I follow a group page of egg cup collectors on Facebook. Perhaps if I wrote a post about losing out on Snow White, my particular holy grail, and shared that frustration with my fellow collectors, I might get a tip about where to search for Snow White?

So I wrote the post. And lo and behold, within an hour, a woman from Canada responded. She had a vast collection of egg cups that she had decided to sell and she had Snow White and five of the dwarfs. She had just discovered and joined the group.

Oh my heavens! It paid off! It’s all in the timing.

I messaged her and we exchanged email addresses and then the negotiating began. She wanted to sell them as a set, but I already had four of the dwarfs and didn’t want to duplicate them, nor pay the additional money for them. She also had no idea how much the value of the egg cups had decreased in the intervening years. So she quoted me a high price, based on what they used to go for. I told her that the Snow White I had missed out on had gone for much less than she had many years before and shared the going price for the dwarfs, based on current sales and what I had paid for my two most recent acquisitions. Much back and forth ensued, but finally, she agreed to sell me Snow White and Happy and Sneezy.

They arrived yesterday.

Oh my goodness! They’re in perfect condition.

I’m thrilled. In addition to all of this treasure, the seller is from Orillia, Ontario, the town in which my mom and grandmother were born. I love that. It made it seem meant to be.

So now I have Dopey, Bashful, and Grumpy.

And Sneezy, Doc, Happy, and Snow White.

I’m missing Sleepy. An interesting thing about Sleepy: he is found in two different designs. One of them is his own distinct look based on the Disney animation. The other is in the form of the exact same egg cup as Sneezy, the only difference being the name on the cup. Did they break the original mold and resort to recycling Sneezy’s mold? It’s very curious! Anyway, if you ever see one, let me know!

They’re going to get their own shelf. I just have to find one that is long enough and vintage enough. Right now they’re on one of the bookshelves.

The first two dwarf egg cups I collected were very pricey. During the past 10 years or so, they’ve gone down in price and I’ve benefitted. The entire set is still worth a lot of money, just not the over-the-top prices they used to go for. I know a collector who has the whole set and probably spent close to $2000 on them many years ago. He has no regrets. I wouldn’t either. These are very old and absolutely delightful – collected by egg cup collectors, as well as collectors of Disneyana. There aren’t that many of them around anymore.

Although…another Snow White just came up for auction in Australia. And her eyes are not quite so wonky. Hmmm…

I kept watching the UPS tracking for the package and was so frustrated when another day in customs kept it from being delivered last Friday! I had to get through an entire weekend before they would be delivered. But now they’re here and all is forgiven.

Happy Tuesday.

 

Filed Under: collecting, egg cups, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs egg cups 52 Comments

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I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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