Thursday, January 1, 2015

Vintage Beatrix Potter TOM KITTEN Plush Toy Cat Circa 1973 For Sale on Ebay

I am selling this adorable Tom Kitten doll with no reserve on ebay. It isn't getting much interest so I thought it might be a good idea to blog about it again. Click here to see my no reserve auction. It ends on Sunday afternoon in case you want to bid. There are 12 photos posted for you to view so you can see him from all angles.

This is an old picture from an 2009 blog post about him.

He is sitting in one of my favorite antique side chairs.

I used to have him on the high chair shown in the first picture along with two antique teddy bears until Webster grabbed him one day and started giving him puppy love bites. He managed to rip one side of the little jacket before I could get Tom away from him. I mended it on the reverse side with light blue iron-on tape that I luckily had in my sewing basket. 

I just took this photo of him leaning on a pillow on my living room sofa. I forgot to position his tail so you could see it.

He's all dressed up and ready to go to a loving home. Thanks for helping me say goodbye to this adorable character doll. The Tale of Tom Kitten is a children's book, written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. It was released by Frederick Warne & Co. in September 1907. The tale is about manners and how children react to them. Tabitha Twitchit, a cat, invites friends for tea. She washes and dresses her three kittens for the party, but within moments the kittens have soiled and lost their clothes while scampering about the garden. Tabitha is "affronted". She sends the kittens to bed, and tells her friends the kittens have the measles. Once the tea party is underway however, its "dignity and repose" are disturbed by the kittens romping overhead and leaving a bedroom in disorder.

Potter's career as a children's author and illustrator was launched in 1902 with the release of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. She continued to publish, and, in 1905, bought Hill Top, a farm in Lancashire, with the sales profits from her books and a small legacy from an aunt. Her tales were also inspired by the farm, its woodland surroundings, and nearby villages. Work began on Tom Kitten in 1906 and its setting became the Hill Top farmhouse. Illustrations depict the interior of the house and the gardens, paths, and gate at the front of the house.

Twenty thousand copies of the book were released in September 1907 and another 12,500 the following December. Potter composed a few miniature letters for child friends as if from the characters in the tale, and, in 1917, she released a painting book under Tom Kitten's name. In 1935, two books of piano pieces and piano duets for children were published with one piece inspired by Tom Kitten and another by the Puddle-Ducks. Tom and other characters in the book have become the subjects of a variety of merchandise over the years including porcelain figurines and plush toys. The tale is still in print, and has been translated and published in several languages.

4 comments:

donna baker said...

He is a cutie.

JudyMac said...

Good idea to put Tom Kitten on your blog. I may not wind up the winner, but I think I helped get the ball rolling this afternoon, and now business is picking up. :-) Heaven knows I don't need anymore "stuff."

Content in a Cottage said...

JudyMac...Thank you for supporting my shameless self promotion. Before I blogged about Tom Kitten, my auction had only 30 views and 3 watchers and a starting bid. This morning there are 126 views and 14 watchers and several very nice bids. He's worth every penny too.
It's really hard to make people look at your auctions without doing something like this. It makes me happy to pack up a box and ship a treasure I discovered to a new home.
xo, Rosemary

JudyMac said...

Tom Kitten is a sweetheart. He would be a good companion for my Peter Rabbit, acquired when my daughter was very young, but alas, like you, I have been trying to divest myself of things that I feel I just don't need to own anymore. Hope your sale brings in big bucks. :-)