Three new arrivals in the Mouse House

My local postie has been busy this week delivering a parcel for me on each of four separate days. First came a new-to-me phone – nothing fancy, just a basic Nokia to replace the model I’ve had for a while which wouldn’t properly send replies to any texts I got – then three new mice to add to my collection.

The first mouse to arrive is an Aynsley one – ‘Mouse with hinge and screws’ – dated 1985, then came a Teviotdale ‘Bank vole and flowers’ signed by the artist and dated 1989, and finally an undated Sherratt & Simpson ‘Mouse with seeds’.

‘Mouse with hinge and screws’ – Aynsley 1985

‘Bank vole and flowers’ – Teviotdale 1989

‘Mouse with seeds’ – Sherratt & Simpson undated

Most of my mice are grouped together according to make and type ; I’ll have to move a few around to accommodate these three so if you don’t hear from me for a while I’ll probably be playing a great game of ‘ Mouse Tetris’!

 

Another mouse arrives

Today I’ve added another mouse ornament to my collection. My mouse buying over the last few months has been pretty much non-existent as most of those I find on ebay now are ones I’ve already got, unless I want to pay ridiculously high prices for something classed as ‘very rare’, so I was delighted when I came across this one at a bargain price including postage.

It’s by Aynsley MasterCraft and though it doesn’t seem to have an official title it was listed as ‘Dormouse and Frog’, though comparing it to some others in my collection it looks more like a bank vole rather than a dormouse. It’s hard to tell on the photo but the detail of the pond is so good that it looks like real water in there. As I tend to keep all my mice of the same type together I’ll now have to rearrange my other Aynsley ones to make room for this one – that should keep me busy for a while!

A new arrival in the Mouse House

Here’s the latest ebay bargain, it arrived today –

It’s from the Country Artists collection and titled ‘Harvest Mouse with Corn Cockle’. Much smaller than it looks in the photos it’s actually only three-and-a-half inches tall from the bottom of the base to the tip of the longest corn ear. The base itself is only two-and-a-quarter inches across so I shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a space for it within my ever-growing collection.

Another one joins the collection

Here’s the latest mouse to join my collection. It was on ebay last weekend and when the auction ended I’d been the only bidder so I got it for the starting price which was an absolute bargain. It arrived today with a message from the seller written on the box it was packed in – ‘Hope you enjoy your mouse and he likes his new home’ – which I thought was rather sweet.

It’s a Wildtrack one, hand made in Scotland; it doesn’t have a title but it’s one I haven’t seen before. Wildtrack mice don’t appear for sale very often so I was lucky to get this one; now all I have to do is find a suitable space for it within my ever growing collection.

A new mouse for Christmas

This little cutie is an early Christmas present to myself; I was lucky enough to win it on ebay at the beginning of the week and it arrived today. The seller’s listing described it as never having been displayed and it certainly does look new. It came in its original box with the original price ticket of £22 on it, and as I paid less than £5 I think that’s quite a bargain. It’s hard to tell from the photos but the tail is so well sculpted it looks almost real.

According to the box it’s a Sandringham piece, though I have to confess that in all my years of mouse collecting I’ve never come across that name before, and even a Google search hasn’t given me much information. There’s nothing written on the box other than ‘Sandringham – made in England’ so as it doesn’t seem to have a name or title I don’t know if it’s one of a series or just a one-off. It’s definitely cute though, and it’ll be making its home somewhere within my collection by the end of this evening.

The latest mouse

Almost a week since I added the last mouse to my collection the latest one arrived today. As usual I got it off ebay, though I must admit I had my doubts when I first saw it. It was described as being ‘handmade’ but I knew the mouse itself wasn’t as I already have three of that type – one with a mushroom, one with some peanuts and one with an acorn, though there’s nothing on any of them to say who they were made by. However, this one looked quite pretty in its little nest so I decided to take a chance on it, and as I was the only bidder I got it for 99p plus less than three quid postage so it hardly broke the bank. It arrived just as I was going out to work this afternoon and I didn’t open the parcel until I got back – and when I saw it I was absolutely thrilled.

The nest seems to be made from a large flat mushroom with the inside scraped out then dried and folded over, and the flowers, berries and grasses are a mixture of dried and artificial ones so in that respect it has indeed been handmade by the seller – it must have taken her a long while to do it as it looks like each bit has been individually stuck on. It’s really pretty and certainly very unusual so I’m glad I took the chance and made a bid for it – now all I have to do is find a suitable space for it.

 

Another one for my collection

Today I added another mouse ornament to my collection. It’s one from the Country Artists range, dated 1999, and is titled Pair of Mice & Old Bike Saddle. At just less than 3 ins tall it’s quite a delicate little piece and really quite pretty, though the photo doesn’t do it justice. I got it off ebay, which is where a great majority of my collectibles have come from, and it was a steal at just a couple of quid with a very reasonable postage charge.

In actual fact, earlier this evening I quickly checked ebay and found another mouse of a different make, with the auction ending round about 11pm, so I used an auction sniper to put a bid in for me in case I went to bed before the auction finished. I didn’t however, and while I was typing the above paragraph I got an email to say I’d won the mouse for the ‘extravagant’ sum of 99p – now that’s definitely a bargain!