Curiosity

Who is this little Merman? What is he smiling about? Is it the little fish featured on the Donna Guiboche Designs necklace? Does he know something that we don't? A recent tryst with another Merperson? Or is he enjoying a private chuckle at the painstaking, yet fruitless, efforts we have expended in trying to identify him?

We know: He is made of bisque. He is German made. He is embossed with the number "4277". Germany was the first of European nations to discover the Chinese process of creating hand pasted porcelain, roughly in the early 17th Century (though some believe it to be earlier - not that we think he is even *nearly* that old). The details are really amazing. He's adorable.

We believe: He might be hand pasted bisque.

We want to get to know him better, but our searches have yielded nothing to help us. We can find Mermaids galore; in paintings, in porcelain, in metals. Mermen, on the other hand, seem to be sorely under represented. We've scoured the web. Rifled through books. Yet, still, he remains a mystery.

He has been an on and off obsession. We give up. So we're asking for your help in identifying him, but we want to make it fun and worth your while (we can't expect you to pore over web pages until your eyes bleed for nothing!). So...

The first person to correctly identify our smug little Merman will receive a $25.00 ChiChi store credit (and our respect and admiration and gratitude).

Here are the rules:

There must be positive identification by way of either; an image which is deemed by Miss P and I to closely enough match our little guy, with supporting details about him OR by identification of the number mark with supporting details OR both.

Post your findings by clicking the 'comments' link. Comments are date and time stamped so there will be no question as to who is the first to identify him. No need to email us, we receive notice each time a comment is left.

We'll leave this open until the 15th of April or until he is identified - whichever comes first.

Have fun and good luck!