Over eight (!) years after reviewing Bullyland Edaphosaurus here, which was my very first review, I´d like to do a review my second Edaphosaurus now, the one, well, “by”, Féves.
Fèves is no company but the term for tiny little figurines made from ceramic / porcelain. It´s a collector´s world on its own, extending over hundreds of different subject areas such as birds, dwarf, movie heroes and so on. It´s worth browsing the web for further information, since there are many things to learn about by digging deeper into this matter. The origin of these figures is especially exciting: A popular fairy-tale figure named „Peau d´Ane“, (“Donkey Skin” in English) from the 13th century was said to have lost a ring in his cake mixture during baking.
Hence developed the rite of stirring a hard bean, French “Fève” into the traditional cake the French bake on January 6th, the day of Epiphany. Since people need change they developed other items from different materials to stir into the cake, still calling them “Féves”. Porcelain is heat-resistant and mostly was the material of choice. It´s said to bring luck if you are the one getting the piece of cake with the “bean” in it or even biting on it.
As to our concern, it´s important that some of these Fèves represent prehistoric animals, there are at least two series I know of, one I own myself (see picture) and one basing on the caracters from Disneys “Dinosaurs” movie.
As an example I decided on the Edaphosaurus, the interesting Permian plant-eater that belongs at least to the extended circle of popular prehistoric beasts, not as popular as its carnivorous cousin Dimetrodon, of course, but okay, still popular.
The figure is tiny, that is 3 cm long and 2 cm tall. It´s made from glossy porcelain. The animal itself stands on a green base revealing its name. While the figure is tan, its sail is bright red. This lovely critter is surprisingly detailed, albeit it would not stand the test of scientific correctness. All the things concerning scientific correctness in my opinion are not interesting for virtus like these.
If you are a collector who is not loath against quirky subject areas, you will enjoy Fèves figurines. Somehow or other, this Edaphosaurus is a nugget I want to keep as long as I´ll be collecting. Thus to my mind 5 out of 5 stars are totally justified.
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Nice review! Funny history lesson on the story about losing the porcelain ring in the cake! Boley makes an Edaphosaurus. I guess I should see if I can get one and add it to my reviews of Boley dinosaurs. I’d like to get the triceratops too, even though they mis-labeled it as a styracosaurus.
That’s quite neat! We used to have a bunch of little porcelain animals that came in tea boxes, but I don’t know if they ever did dinosaurs.
Porcelain figures always have a certain charm.
Nice review.