Tim’s battery charger has not yet been found, so my little point and shoot camera will have to do. These are the tiles which were taken to the Antique Road Show a week or so ago and proclaimed to be somewhat valuable. The appraiser, a specialist in Arts & Crafts period tiles had not seen the likes of the nursery rhyme designs from the Batchelder Studio before.

It’s a bit nerve wracking to know that we have something of value beyond what it means to us on a sentimental level. Especially since they’re breakable and our cleaning helper, in her zeal, often overlooks the fragility of items and has been known to vacuum up the pieces with little or no awareness of what has been broken. She’s thorough. She’s diligent. She’s industrious. But I think I’ve shared with you before that it’s a rare thing to find a doll around here with all ten fingers intact and that our hand carved Pied Piper from Germany has lost all his rats which used to trail along behind him. And you’ve heard before about our little SnowWhite and her six dwarves. It’s disconcerting, but I keep telling myself that they’re only things and I try not to wring my hands over lost items.