Here in New York, we're coming off of the “Winter that Wouldn't Quit,” with lots of snow and lots of cold. A remarkable amount of cold actually. As I write this, it's the last day of March and there were snow flurries falling this afternoon. It's not uncommon in this neck of the woods, but I think most people have just about had it and are looking for spring to come roaring in as soon as possible.
In this house spring means the gardens begin to come back, the yard gets a good cleaning and this weekend it means Easter. For the past week or so, my wife has dug the decorations that we have out of the attic. Easter decorations are typically bright, cheery, and colorful. It's just the thing to help usher out the winter blues that we've all been dealing with.
Surprisingly, I don't have any Mickey decorations for this holiday. When I look back, there's plenty of Mickey Christmas stuff and Disney Halloween stuff stashed up in the attic. I've been to Walt Disney World for each of those holiday seasons, and we've never been there for Easter time, so maybe that has something to do with it?
We have one small collection of Disney Easter items. It's part of a bigger collection of Winnie the Pooh porcelain hinged boxes. This is my lovely wife's collection, or is it my wife's lovely collection? I have contributed many to her as gifts over the years, so in a way, I've hunted and collected them too. I love when they come out for each respective holiday season.
We have three Classic Pooh Easter themed porcelain hinged boxes. Let's tale a closer look at them.
This is the newest addition to the collection. It features Pooh on top of the egg and Piglet attached to the side. They are both painting and putting the finishing touches on the egg's decorations.
Pooh drapes himself across the top of this porcelain hinged box. Photo by Chris Barry.
The next one is the largest of any porcelain box that we have. Most of them are the size of the first one. This one is rather unusual. Pooh and Tigger are standing on the grass surrounded by flowers. Pooh is holding a basket of Easter eggs and is handing Tigger a wrapped one.
Pooh presents Tigger with an Easter gift. Photo by Chris Barry.
This box is my favorite. It has Eeyore holding a very large egg that he is decorating apparently for his good friend Pooh.
Eeyore decorates an Easter egg for Pooh. Photo by Chris Barry.
These boxes and all of the others in our collection are made by Midwest of Cannon Falls located in Minnesota. In reality, the boxes all have a “Made in China” sticker on the bottom, so I guess I should say they are distributed by Midwest. From my research they seem to be the largest sellers of porcelain hinged boxes out there. They all are finely detailed, well made, and all have the trademark brass ring and hinge mechanism. If you'd like to take a look at the rest of my collection, click here to read an article from several years back that covered them all.
These boxes are not a difficult item to collect if you're in the market. They are readily available at gift shops and everywhere from the usual secondary sellers online. While some larger and more rare models can command prices in the $80 to $90 range, it's more typical that you can get your hands on one for about $20 or so.
Each season that comes around we decorate the house and the Pooh boxes always have a place on the hutch or on the fireplace mantle. Who doesn't love Classic Pooh? He definitely brightens the day. I'm hoping his appearance ushers in some warmer weather because even this die-hard skier has kind of had it with the cold.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy your springtime and as always, click on the link below, let me hear your thoughts about these wonderful Pooh Easter boxes and I'll see you next time with more of that great Disney Stuff.
