Field Spaniel Plate...

Field Spaniel Plate...  The auction we won a few weeks ago was shipped by Royal Mail on August 5th.  The plate arrived in Los Angeles two days later, on the 7th.  Our U.S. Post Office then took a week to get to Paradise (I'm guessing by donkey).

When I picked up the box from the Post Office, I was surprised how big it was.  We opened it and found a layer of shredded newspaper – great crushable shock absorbing material.  Inside that was a second box.  Opening that, we discovered a layer of bubble wrap.  Actually, it was six layers of bubble wrap, each one meticulously taped up.  Inside all that bubble wrap was a cradle of Styrofoam, also carefully taped up.  Inside that was another layer of bubble wrap, a layer of Saran wrap, a layer of tissue paper, and – finally! – the plate itself.  Naturally, after all that packaging it was in perfect condition.  I'm pretty sure you could have driven an M1A1 tank over the original box without damaging the plate!  I sent a note to the seller to tell them just how impressed we were with the packaging.  Oh, and the plate, too :)

Debbie is now on a quest to find a nice stand for it, so we can put it in our hutch full of field spaniel-related art.

The artist is James Skerrett.  He's a couple years younger than I am, and has specialized in ceramic art (especially dogs) for most of his career.  The plate isn't particularly valuable, but it fits very nicely indeed into our collection, and the proceeds went to benefit the breed's health (through the Field Spaniel Health charity in England).  Double win!