Pig collection#1

I have always loved pigs - the real thing, pottery, porcelain, wooden, fluffy toy pigs, pig poems, pig stories, sausages and bacon! At one time there were about 400 pigs in our collection but we gave a lot away when we moved from our house in Hampshire to this Devonshire cottage. I wanted to call the cottage 'Piggery Porcombe', like the farm where Miss Porcas and Miss Dorcas lived in The Tale of Little Pig Robinson but the family wouldn't have it.
I kept all the pigs with special memories or associations and I'll do a 'pig post' from time to time.

These velveteen pigs are 35 years old, bought in Wales when we were on honeymoon. I wish I had aged so well!

This is a Sussex Pig from the Rye Pottery probably bought in 1974 or '75

His head can be removed to be used as a cup, although I haven't made use of this facility. I think he looks better with his head on his shoulders.
There is an interesting anecdote attached to this little pig band. When my husband was a young officer in the merchant navy, he became an apprentice in the Honourable Company of Master Mariners. His master was a retired captain who became a close friend as well as mentor. In later years, he welcomed me into his home too, and he would show me photograph albums and scrapbooks from his childhood on the Isle of Wight in the 1890s. He claimed to be an illegitimate son of Edward, Prince of Wales, who went on to become King Edward V11. The photographs showed his mother to be a very beautiful young woman, living in obvious luxury on the island. He had a number of postcards and notes with enigmatic messages which may or may not have come from HRH. One photograph was taken on his fifth birthday; there was a splendid cake, sent from Fortnum and Mason and the little pig figures were on the top. He left me the pigs in his will.

This is a piece of Copenhagen porcelain, brought back by the MM from one of his trips to Denmark.

This model is called Ecstasy. Both pig and farmer look as if they've been at the cider jar.