Le Caillou, Le Chat Et Le Chevalier:
During our holiday excursion to Italy in the summer of 24, and as our stay near Pisa was coming to an end, I scouted for a perfect pebble by the beach, found me a little white stone, oblong and soft- crushed by the waves, and another jet black, sharp chip to carve it with. So, I sat working in the evenings, in between games of card with my companion, and after, before sleep at my bedside. It was for the reason of my sentimental nature and affection for my friend that I inscribed our initials. In time, or at least after I am long gone, it may well be lost someday and become a mere curiosity found by someone else, but it is a very dear symbol of our friendship now. Therefore, I think, it is worth to have made, and displayed in my home, I have it neatly nestled in between two guarding foo dogs, or Chinese style stone lions; symbolic protectors of our sacred bond. And, though this may seem to subsist a superstition, I think it is only proper, for- and as a cobbler once told me, how “lovers, you know, may come and go, but a good friend is always duly there”. Most certainly, these are words to live exemplary by.
On the topic of things lost and found, however, I may go on to a little sleek black ceramic seal, formed as to lay arched on its stomach, twisting to the side, with its paws on its tummy and painted with gold lines as to charmingly smile on the looker on. Unfortunately, it had a small piece broken off and gone from its tail and so was thrown out years ago by my very cleanly mother. The pain was worse felt when I asked my father to whom in my family it first belonged, to which he answered that his mother, or perhaps her father again, had bought it, possibly making it a very old family relic. Seeing my plans to restore it diminished, the search for another desk ornament began. After having spent countless hours with no success in finding an adequate replacement seal online, I headed to a favourite flea market in a neighbouring village. To say that the treasures are well mixed in with the rubble there is to put it lightly yet neatly presented and waiting in a ye olde display case was a grey and white ceramic cat with pink nose and blue eyes, tilting its head to me. This 1956 Royal Copenhagen design hallmarked 1803 underneath now adorns my desk and serves well to tell both a lesson of tradition making and keeping.
On the topic of rectification, however, another bauble piece I have bought springs to mind, and is a tin cast steadfast British Ceremonial “Life Guard Mounted Trooper” figurine made by W. Britain ltd. It is a purchase which I am rather contented with, despite the products saddle detail seemingly consisting of plastic. Anyhow, given that I long had dreamt of owning such a splendid tin soldier as I only saw behind glass in the uppermost floor of Hamleys, London, as a child, I reasoned that I should at last fulfil my inner childhood dream when the thought once again crossed my mind. Although I couldn’t quite express my infatuation for them back then, I think them simply timeless, classically iconic, and most utterly charming. They have a fairytale likeness, an old-world aesthetic and an unmistakable cultural essence. To hold it at last, you can imagine, was pure bliss- multiplied- as the figurine rider just so happened to be approximately the same size as another tin knight I found nearly ten years ago.
And it is as such hereunto you that I bestow a lesson of sentimental sanctity that may imbue in simple ornaments. Whether for private and/or inheritable value convention, I would urge anyone to make, keep or acquire a few mementoes throughout the years, not least as they can be good memory devices. Indeed, it is through the establishment of like-manner keepsake things that we humans make covenants between people throughout time, transcending the temporality of life, conveying not only that we were here, but that we enjoyed the regard. I aim, therefore, not to be a hoarder, but a lover of fine things; and as the finest to me are the most earnest, you know my heart compound.
Thank you.