dog collectibles

When I fist spotted this adorable dog, I thought I’d be adding a new piece to my chalkware collection, but the second I picked him up, I knew better. Sure, I’d be adding him to my collection — who could resist that face?! — but he isn’t made of chalk or plaster.

This vintage dog is made of composition, a mix of sawdust and glue molded into shapes that’s both heavier and denser than paper mache. Composition was used primarily from the late 1870s through the early 1950s. The height of the market for composition toys and home decor pieces was the 1920s (popularity due to novelty of a new material) through 1940s wartime (when rationing limited options for manufacturing). The invention of new, inexpensive and more durable hard plastics in the 40s brought about the end of composition items by the 50s.

I’ve seen (and own) composition dolls, and quite a number of small toy animal toys and figurines (mostly nativity scene pieces), but nothing quite like this charming dog. Outside of the doll world, this golden pup is the largest vintage composition piece I’ve seen. At five inches tall, he seems too large to have been a child’s toy; likely an inexpensive display figurine for the home.

The crazing, or cracks in the lacquer or sealing finish caused by changes in humidity and temperature, are common. Thankfully, the worst of the crazing (and resulting loss of color due to damage to the sealer) is limited to the backside and bottom of this vintage piece.

I call him Old Yeller because I like to imagine I’m saving this yellow lab as I’m making him part of my collection of dogs.

Back in February I posted 13 Fascinating Clippings From 1957, which included this bit:

In a feature called May We Present, we learn of the miracle of dog obedience via Blanche Saunders (featured with her poodles).

“Miss Saunders’s talents are now so much in demand that getting your dog into one of her classes is roughly comparable to getting your son into Harvard.”

Well, at least it was easier than getting your daughter in.

And then I heard from Beverly. Her niece Lisa found the post and contacted Beverly to let her know — because Blanche was Beverly’s great aunt (and therefore Lisa’s great great aunt). This is what she wrote:

We don’t have many photos or much background material, so the items below were so meaningful. I’m so glad you have a hobby that takes you through old magazines! You have have come across my mother Joan Saunders, who also trained poodles and had her own poodle shop in Manhattan.

One never knows how one is going to connect with others. And isn’t the Web fabulous!

The Web is indeed fabulous! I think I may have been even more thrilled than Beverly; for while it certainly is fun to connect with people, it’s super-bonus-point-time when my junk gets validated for having a purpose.

I asked Beverly if I could share her story; she replied, “By all means, share the story, Deanna.” And sent along the following information:

I am rather pleased for my great Aunt Blanche, who was quite an unusual, accomplished woman way back when women were stuck in “little boxes.” She was a Canadian, by the way, from Petitcodiac, New Brunswick. How she got to the elegant realms of Manhattan and a townhouse in the east Fifties must have been quite a story—one that she took with her. She had the first (and for years the only) poodle shop in that New York townhouse in addition to running Carillon Kennels. Katharine Cornell, the Bennett sisters (Constance and Joan), Gov. of New York Tom Dewey and a slew of celebrities and members of Eastern Upper Crust were among her clientele. I attach a document with some other background that you might find of interest.

This is some of the information she sent; I include it for any others who are interested in Blanche Saunders & poodles:

Catharine C. Reiley, “Poodles in obedience”, Mackey J. Irick, The New Poodle, 6th ed. (New York: Howell Book House, 1986), [includes] an account of the 10,000 miles 10-week “trailer trek” across North America during the fall of 1937 by Helene Whitehouse Walker (founder of the sport in North America, and charter member of the Poodle Club of America) and her then-assistant, the now-legendary trainer, instructor, and author, Blanche Saunders–with three Standard Poodles–to popularize the then-new sport.

…Saunders died in 1964; her memory is honoured each year at the Poodle Club of America’s National Specialty when a trophy in her name is awarded to the highest-scoring Poodle in the Open B class.

So it certainly would be fair to say that Blanche Saunders helped put the “standard” in poodles. *wink*

Beverly signed her email saying, “And thank you again. I’m certain that wherever my aunt’s spirit is, she is enjoying this connection.”

Now doesn’t that just make collecting, scanning and sharing seem so important & vital? Who knows what keys you & your collection hold to someone else’s history. So get out your stuff & share it in the Collectors Quest Community — I just know someone out there is going to be thrilled that you did.

Scooby-Doo Collection

About 12 years ago I got a Great Dane puppy. I named him Saltheart Foamfollower after the gentle giant in Stephen R. Donaldson’s books; but he was called “Salty” for short. Like most dog owners in love with their dog’s breed, I began to gobble up Great Dane collectibles. Being the parent of a then-six-year-old, I also had to include Scooby-Doo things. That is how & why I began collecting Scooby-Doo items.

Great Danes, like many giant dog breeds, are called “heart-breakers” because they live very short lives. After just six years, Salty went on to doggy heaven leaving me too heartbroken to get anything else with a Great Dane on it. That is how I stopped buying Scooby-Doo items.

Grandma’s bought the kids Scooby things, but in six years, I’ve not bought anything with another Dane on it. The clothing, all but one denim shirt with Scooby embroidered on the pocket, are all long gone — wash worn, faded, or if the kid out-grew it but it was still in great shape, donated to another child with a love of Scooby-Doo. There’s also one watch which, like the shirt, I still cannot bear to wear. But mostly what remains of my Scooby-Doo collection are the decorative and kitchen items, like the vase, milk jug, soap dispenser, and Wilton cake pan. Sometimes they still are hard for me to see & use. Boy, I miss my dog.

1999 Scooby-Doo Cookie Jar

You might have noticed that the ceramic Scooby-Doo cookie jar is damaged; he’s missing one of his ears. As a collectible he would seem to have little-to-no value, right? But in this case it’s just the opposite. That missing ear is the very reason I love that cookie jar.

As any Dane owner will tell you about the breed, Salty was a gentle giant like his namesake. But, as any pet owner will tell you, Salty also had his own personality. One of this dog’s quirks was that he had a thing — a hatred — for images of Great Danes with cropped ears.

At first it seemed coincidental when he chewed all the upright ears off the rubber Scooby-Doo dog toys. They are the parts which stick off the toy and are easily chewed away, right? But then Salty learned to flip his toys into my other Scooby-Doo collectibles, eventually, after much loss of other ceramic & glass items, developing a remarkable knack for hitting them just right to remove one ear at a time. I have to say, for the record, that the dog never broke anything but Scooby items, and always the cropped ears. As fascinating as his statement on the cropping of dog’s ears was, it became too expensive to keep those anyplace other than in a cupboard or on top of them, way out of sight.

Now, whenever I see the one-eared cookie jar with lolling tongue goofily peering at me from atop the refrigerator, I smile a sad, wistful smile for the dog who left the cookie jar thus. It’s like the dog is still speaking to me through that cookie jar.

While it’s true the cookie jar has no value as a collectible, I’m sure my eldest child will want it. She remembers the day that ear was swiftly removed from the cookie jar; she remembers the sweet, goofy, giant dog who hated cropped ears on Danes.

1997 Scooby-Doo Drinking Glass

I’m still not ready to get another Great Dane — yet. But, enough time has passed, my heart has healed enough to now consider getting more Great Dane and Scooby-Doo items.

I think I’ll need to start by replacing the Scooby-Doo drinking glasses; twelve years of use and washing has left them rather faded and with the image worn-off in spots.

I know they don’t make the same ones anymore — in fact, Scooby’s popularity as defined by availability in merchandise offerings seems to have waned quite a bit since the late 90’s. So I’ll have to really search for them. But it’s time I started being happy looking for those goofy gentle giants again.

Being 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.

On October 17, 2005 Steve King and Janet Rosso started Caboodle! Toys LLC., and exactly 16 months later their first container of Noah’s Pals (lovingly sculpted, beautifully hand-painted animal figures, built to 1:24 scale) shipped from overseas — they were officially in the collectibles business.

Just a few weeks after the February 2007 Toy Fair, where they presented Noah’s Pals to toy lovers, I caught up with Janet and Steve and asked them some questions about their new animal collectibles.

You know I love the concept of animals (they’re cute, affordable, educational, and fun for generations), but why did you choose animals?

Steve: We started out by defining the things we’d like to see in a collection. We wanted it to be educational, optimistic, and non-violent. Then we decided to do some research by talking to collectors — but we never got to that point…

Janet: Steve asked me if I knew anybody that was really into collecting so we could interview them. I jokingly said, “Noah.” After all, he was the first and biggest collector of all time. And with that quick conversation, we decided on Noah’s Pals.

Steve: The beauty of the Noah’s Ark story, how it evokes the beauty in all animals, and its relevance to many of the popular religions in the world including Christianity, Judaism, and Islamism, it seemed like a natural.

It does inspire one to take stewardship of animals and the environment more seriously. But, I have to ask… Why isn’t there a Mrs. Noah?

Janet: Mrs. Noah is coming soon. We plan on introducing her in early 2008.

OK. I was afraid she had missed the ark! How many animals are currently on the ark — in the series?

Janet: Noah’s Pals is our premier collection. All forty pairs of animals, Noah with the doves, and the ark were released at the same time.

Just how does the collectability come into play? Will all 40 animal pair inventory just sell out and that’s that, or is there another plan?

Janet: We’ve noticed that some collectible companies suddenly ‘retire’ a product without warning. We find that this lacks integrity.

Steve: We think that it makes sense to fully disclose the quantity and availability of our collections. It’s the honest thing to do.

Janet: With Noah’s Pals, we’re creating limited editions of those animals that are in danger of becoming extinct. For example, five of our animal pairs are ‘endangered’ and we have decided to only make 10,000 editions. Another ten pairs are ‘vulnerable’ in the wild and we are making 20,000 editions of those. After we’ve produced all of those editions, they will officially become retired.

But there’s a reason to collect the non-endangered, not-so-limited animals too, right? You can register all/any animals to get that Caboodle! And I hear it involves some really rare animals…

Steve: The Caboodle! reward contains several great ‘bonus’ items for the avid Noah’s Pals collector. We decided to offer an ‘extinct’ species of animal with each series. For the first series of forty animals, the Caboodle! includes Derek + Delilah Dodo. They are not for sale, and the only way to earn the pair is to gather the rest of the collection.

So cool — you can only get the extinct species by saving the others. It’s like good karma!

Janet: The Caboodle! also includes a lunch box and a memory card matching game featuring our distinctive animal icons. Plus a few other special surprises too!

Please describe how the registration and reward system works, so folks know just how to get a Caboodle.

Steve: We’ve designed it to be simple as possible. Kids and parents need to first register as a member of Noah’s Crew on NOAHSPALS.com. After that, they just need to visit our online “Check-In Desk” and enter the full ID codes found on the back of their ID Cards. We also have an “offline” Redemption Form that comes with our Arks. Collectors can write the codes on a single sheet of paper and mail it to us to redeem their Caboodle!™

If folks register online, along with the interactive aspects of the website and earning the reward of a Caboodle!™ they can win prizes too. Will these items be limited in anyway and be collectibles themselves?

Janet: The raffle prizes are an extra thank you to our collectors, but they can also be purchased from our online shop. We would hope that the Caboodle! itself becomes a valued collectible.

And there’s interactive fun too — like games, downloads and animal information.

I know you’re still planning to expand the website for registered users… Any plans you can share?

Janet: We’ve compiled a long list of animals and it took us quite some time to decide on the first forty — we’d like to add twenty Noah’s Pals every year. We plan on working with our collectors to choose the animals that will be released in the next series.

Noah’s Pals are adorable and collectible, which I’m completely a fan of, but they are for children and well, kids will be kids… Are Noah’s Pals toys too? What are they made of? Are they fragile?

Janet: Yes, they are toys and meant to be enjoyed! They are made of PVC (stands for polyvinyl chloride), which is simply plastic in lay terms. Our plastic is hard, but not solid. Our products have been extensively tested and meet the safety standards of the United States, Canada, and Europe for children 3+.

I’m curious, what sort of feeback or comments did you receive at the Toy Fair?

Janet: We had several zoo buyers inspect our animals and they just loved the little details we added through sculpting and painting. For example, on our zebra, we added a shadow stripe on their hind quarters to distinguish the plains zebra from other species. They also loved our ID Cards and the educational focus of our line.

Steve: We found that everyone appreciates the “built to scale” aspect of the collection. We’re not the first company to offer animal figures, but apparently we’re one of the first to maintain scale across the animal kingdom.

They sure are beautiful — and I wish you much success!

Janet: We hope Noah’s Pals becomes popular in the collecting community so that we can continue to work together on Noah’s Pals and entirely brand new collections too.

Along with the links included in this interview, Noah’s Pals are found at specialty toy stores, gift boutiques, and zoo shops. If you can’t find them at your local store, contact Steve and Janet at their website and ask them to help you locate a retailer near you.