I love a bit of kitsch and this particular cat head seems to have been following me over the past couple of weeks. Originally I photographed on the shelves of a local Charity Shop as a potential contribution to one of the C**p Charity Shop Find Facebook pages I subscribed to …… then I saw it again in a shop in Exmouth during a recent visit ….. I remember picking it up, hmmmming and then putting it back thinking “….. I bet you wish you’d bought that when you get home madam!”
On getting home, would you believe it someone posted the same cat found in another shop …… I felt that the stars were truly conspiring against me, so it was inevitable that my fate was well and truly sealed when I found “Francoise” as I now like to call her in yet another Evesham shop priced at just 99p …… it was a no brainer, she was duly purchased as I think she is rather cute.
I then decided to do a little research on said Francoise. She dates back to the 60’s and was made by Howard Holt, Japan. She is in fact a string holder but there are quite a few variations on the cat theme from salt and pepper pots, jugs, spice jars, to teapots etc.. There are also many collectors of Howard Holt out there, mostly I note in the USA, where prices are interesting! Back in the UK, on Ebay asking prices for my head vary from £19.99 to £39.99. Who was to know? This find has really turned out to be more treasure than tut!
I had not heard of the Holt Howard products before--they're very cute--so I did a little online research. I will definitely keep an eye out for them at the thrift store where I volunteer. We get in a LOT of ceramic items donated, so who knows? Maybe some of these cute items will show up one day.
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