The Precious Gift of Friendship
"Value - true value - cannot be measured in the weight of gold or the carats of diamonds. True value is measured in how much an item resonates with us, and how much it makes our hearts sing with joy." - raaen99 (your humble photographer).
The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 3rd of January is "precious gift", a theme where it is required to take a photo of something that was gifted to you, that you hold precious. It can be monetarily precious, or intrinsically valuable. I am very fortunate in the fact that I have ever so many people in my life that love me, both family and friends, that I have a multitude of choices for this theme. I could have chosen from this year's Christmas gifts anything from beautiful pieces of antique jewellery to a Little Red Riding Hood themed tassel made just for me, a tutu for my little bear Scout, to a hand made Christmas card designed with me in mind. All are notable and worthy, and the possibilities are infinite. In the end, hoping that I do not cause offense in doing so to the givers of the other gifts, I finally settled on one precious gift. This is a half-doll who is a brush half-doll (or whisk broom half-doll in you are in America). Made in Germany by Dressel and Kister, and hand painted, this was a gift to me from a very dear friend in America this Christmas. Why did I choose it? Well, I chose it for a number of reasons. Firstly, this friend is very precious to me, and enrichens my life with her presence, which alone makes any gift that she gives me intrinsically valuable. This friend now collects half-dolls as voraciously as I do, because I introduced her to the world of half-dolls, so this gift resonates with both of us and helps strengthen what is already a strong bond between us. I chose it because my friend and I both like to fossick in antique and curio shops, charity shops and auctions for forgotten and hidden treasures, and she fossicked around and found me this particular doll because she thought I would like it, which makes it very personalised. I chose it because, unbeknownce to my friend, stuck between the bristles of the broom and well hidden, was a secreted small slip of paper that I only noticed after I was looking over the half-doll closely after unwrapping her. The note, written in tiny spidery copperplate reads, "My parents gave this brush to my Grandmother Hannah in the 1930s". So this discovery resonates with my sense of domestic history, was a lovely bonus neither my friend nor I were expecting, and adds to the half-doll's value for me, as now I know a bit about her life story. I think that makes this half-doll perfect for this week's theme! I do hope you like my choice for the theme and that it makes you smile!
The "half-doll" is a dainty porcelain or bisque figurine, fashionable in the early Twentieth Century with an upper body, head, arms, but no legs. These dolls were produced in the thousands at the height of their popularity by German factories such as Dressel and Kister, Heubach, Goebel and Kestner. Later they were produced in France, America and later still, in Japan. They commonly served as handles and toppers for fabric covers made for powder boxes on ladies’ dressing tables and small brushes, however they were also made for jewellery boxes, pincushions, tea cosies and other covers. In this case, my beautifully hand painted German half-doll with her whimsical Dutch outfit is a brush half-doll.
The Precious Gift of Friendship
"Value - true value - cannot be measured in the weight of gold or the carats of diamonds. True value is measured in how much an item resonates with us, and how much it makes our hearts sing with joy." - raaen99 (your humble photographer).
The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 3rd of January is "precious gift", a theme where it is required to take a photo of something that was gifted to you, that you hold precious. It can be monetarily precious, or intrinsically valuable. I am very fortunate in the fact that I have ever so many people in my life that love me, both family and friends, that I have a multitude of choices for this theme. I could have chosen from this year's Christmas gifts anything from beautiful pieces of antique jewellery to a Little Red Riding Hood themed tassel made just for me, a tutu for my little bear Scout, to a hand made Christmas card designed with me in mind. All are notable and worthy, and the possibilities are infinite. In the end, hoping that I do not cause offense in doing so to the givers of the other gifts, I finally settled on one precious gift. This is a half-doll who is a brush half-doll (or whisk broom half-doll in you are in America). Made in Germany by Dressel and Kister, and hand painted, this was a gift to me from a very dear friend in America this Christmas. Why did I choose it? Well, I chose it for a number of reasons. Firstly, this friend is very precious to me, and enrichens my life with her presence, which alone makes any gift that she gives me intrinsically valuable. This friend now collects half-dolls as voraciously as I do, because I introduced her to the world of half-dolls, so this gift resonates with both of us and helps strengthen what is already a strong bond between us. I chose it because my friend and I both like to fossick in antique and curio shops, charity shops and auctions for forgotten and hidden treasures, and she fossicked around and found me this particular doll because she thought I would like it, which makes it very personalised. I chose it because, unbeknownce to my friend, stuck between the bristles of the broom and well hidden, was a secreted small slip of paper that I only noticed after I was looking over the half-doll closely after unwrapping her. The note, written in tiny spidery copperplate reads, "My parents gave this brush to my Grandmother Hannah in the 1930s". So this discovery resonates with my sense of domestic history, was a lovely bonus neither my friend nor I were expecting, and adds to the half-doll's value for me, as now I know a bit about her life story. I think that makes this half-doll perfect for this week's theme! I do hope you like my choice for the theme and that it makes you smile!
The "half-doll" is a dainty porcelain or bisque figurine, fashionable in the early Twentieth Century with an upper body, head, arms, but no legs. These dolls were produced in the thousands at the height of their popularity by German factories such as Dressel and Kister, Heubach, Goebel and Kestner. Later they were produced in France, America and later still, in Japan. They commonly served as handles and toppers for fabric covers made for powder boxes on ladies’ dressing tables and small brushes, however they were also made for jewellery boxes, pincushions, tea cosies and other covers. In this case, my beautifully hand painted German half-doll with her whimsical Dutch outfit is a brush half-doll.