How Much Is That Doggie In The Window & Other Collecting Tales
06.19.08 By Deanna DahlsadBeing a soft-hearted collector with limited space and an even more limited wallet, it often becomes necessary to limit yourself. Failing that, it’s time for the spouse to play Bad Cop and place the limits on you. (It’s OK, because I do it in return.)
A recent example was a trip to a local thrift shop. I spied this old plastic terrier figurine.
An inexpensive model — literally. With snap-together plastic pieces, obvious hand-painting, and a foil label stating the breed (because sloppy painting may render the dog unrecognizable), it must have been made from a model kit. I imagined it to be a child’s craft kit, perhaps even a scouting project. Very charming.
But at $5, I just couldn’t justify it… Especially once hubby & I had already reached our agreed upon budget. (Not that it stopped me from mentioning it at the check-out counter — just in case…)
While I waited for our items to be wrapped up, I made one last pass at the (usually uninteresting) domestics isles near the counter. There, amid the typical mugs and vases, was a mate (as in a friend, nor for actual breeding purposes) for the terrier.
An adorable little basset hound, clearly from the same modeling kit or series.
I again whimpered, hoping my brown eyes would be as beguiling as a real basset’s; but he was taking his role as Bad Cop seriously.
:sigh:
Again, I couldn’t argue with him. This doggie was $8 (though I could see no reason why he’d be priced higher), bringing the pair of pooches to $13 (half our day’s budget). But I did argue, in that muttering under-breath way to no one in particular, why the two dogs had not been placed together. If they had, I might have spotted them earlier — before selecting other items and spending my meager allowance.
Oh well, today it was not to be.
On the way home, I pondered how the two vintage plastic dogs would fare sitting on my shelf of doggie items… Like a trip to the kennel, I couldn’t take them all home and I missed them already.
Hubby tried to cheer me up, reminding me that I don’t really collect dogs (debatable) and that they weren’t very nice or particularly valuable. He meant that in the sense that they were inexpensive knick-knacks which were supposed to have a small, temporary, life in a kid’s room, and that they weren’t very old, made perhaps as recently as the 60’s. While I half-heartedly argued the fact that they would be at least 40 years old (too close to my own age for me to feel comfortable pronouncing them “old”), I was more passionate about the fact that their very value lay in their short life-expectancy — and their crude, childish paint-job.
He knows this; I was preaching to the choir. Worse yet, I was preaching to the designated Bad Cop, making him The Bad Guy, and myself a petulant brat. He was trying to make me feel better; I was making him feel worse. ‘Cuz it’s not like he doesn’t indulge me most of the time… As often as our collective wallet allows.
Like my $3.50 “must have” purchase (rescue) of this vintage red plastic Electric Eye Doggie called “My Pal.”
A broken, vintage red plastic dog. For as you can see, he’s not only missing his switch of a tail, but his tummy-plate (& possibly additional electronic guts).
Which is exactly why he was priced at just 10% (or less) of his supposed collector’s value.
But I had to have him, imperfections and all. He makes my tail wag.
Call me barking-mad; I love thinking about the parents who entrusted him to watch over their children — children who in turn enjoyed and loved him.
I cannot help but think he’d like to sit with those other less-than-perfect pups discarded by now-grown children… Maybe we’ll go back again this weekend & they will still be there — with lowered prices, yet.
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Article Tags: collecting, dog collectibles, dogs, thrift shops, vintage================
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