Porcelain Pets, Never Housebroken

Day 99: Porcelain Pets, Never Housebroken

By Joe Mooney

Karen's note: I'm at a conference this week, so I asked some friends (and great writers) to guest blog for me. These are folks who've had some very thought-provoking responses to my "Stuff" blog. Joe is a former editor and writer for Gourmet Magazine, a former antiques dealer, and a natural philosopher. Enjoy!

PS I got rid of a handmade pottery cream pitcher today. Well, not exactly today; I borrowed a few things forward last weekend.

When Karen wrote a few weeks ago that she’d struck a chord or perhaps joined a symphony with her “Stuff” blog and year-long give-away project I thought, Yes! A symphony. That’s what it feels like to me, like we’ve entered into a new era where stuff and things and, indeed, ownership, don’t seem as important as they used to be, and everyone’s singing a new song together. We’ve been reading about it in all the papers, right? And then I had to stop myself and say, “Kidding?” Stuff still rules on this planet. So maybe I was just trying to make myself feel better by getting on the getting-rid-of-things bandwagon and giving stuff away. In other words, what does it mean to give things away authentically?

And yet—I do feel better. Lighter. I was inspired by Karen’s project. I’ve been giving something away every day for over a month. Good stuff, too. Vintage items. Antiques. Even some stuff I kind of paid a lot of money for but that ended up sitting in my basement in boxes for years. Like items with a pig theme (long story). Or cat paintings.

Because there was a time when stuff and things had an almost talismanic effect on me. I can’t give that away! It belonged to my first cat! 

Even so I’ve always had a kind of love-hate relationship with possessions. I want them and then when I have them they seem kind of meaningless—dusty orphans inhabiting the rooms in my house and the chambers of my soul.

Here’s something I took to PTO because I knew it would sell there even if I’d never get what I paid for it if I tried to sell it myself. A Made in Japan lusterware sugar and creamer set in the shape of dogs. I paid $60 for these in an antique mall in Oberlin, Ohio about 20 years ago. They were made in a factory, cheaply, in Japan prior to World War II, probably to satisfy the appetite for stuff that people had back then. They’re pretty cute, really. Lots of personality. Why did I buy them? Good question. I had a notion, once, that pre-war Made in Japan would rise in price, and that was part of the appeal: I could buy low, enjoy them for a while, then sell high. But they never were useful objects for me, they were just objets. Now they’re gone, and hopefully someone else is treasuring them at this very moment.

This canine sugar and creamer set was made in Japan before World War II.
Aren't they cute? They seemed so necessary to my happiness
when I bought them 20 years ago.
And yet, they've hardly seen the light of day since then.
Sorry, my pets---back to the pound