Gog and Magog: Porcelain Mantel Dogs
I’m not crazy for dogs or sentimental ceramics, but growing up, I was a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables. And I vividly remember Anne Shirley describing her landlord’s mantel dogs (dubbed Gog and Magog) in Anne of Ingleside. So when I spotted this pair of Staffordshire-style spaniels at the Value Village, I snapped them up without stopping to think “what am I going to do with these when I get home?”
Which is a totally Anne Shirley thing to do, if you think about it.
I don’t think they have much resale value as my research so far suggests that they were probably made in the 1940s or 1950s. They are unmarked, so they could have been made anywhere at anytime. So I have been painting still life watercolours of them so that they can earn their keep.
Adorable. It’s been a while since I read the book, but I remember they were described to be china and having green spots. A very ‘anne’ thing indeed, the impulsive purchase. Oh…… The good times. My heart is longing for the peaceful past. Nostalgia of times I’ve never lived… If one longs to live in a certain place, they may simply travel there. If one longs for a certain time in the past… It breaks my heart that I have no one to talk to and that I must resort to press repeatedly on an slab of illuminated glass……