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.
