I don't have a lot of family heirlooms or hand-me-downs - you're not likely to see me on the Antiques Roadshow - but I do have one that's quite a mystery.
It's this little egg, which stands 2.5 inches tall. It's made of porcelain or china, with a matte finish. Inside, there's a baby, and across the top is written Don't forget me, I'll be with you soon!
I'm guessing it's a trinket for a baby shower. It has no markings on the bottom, and it's not particularly well made. There are small indentations around the hole in the egg, which look like they came from the mold when it was made. The baby's face is hand-painted, but it's a bit sloppy, and the writing on the outside looks like it was imprinted from a stencil. I'm guessing it was made in Asia, probably in Japan.
I'm curious about its age, and which on-its-way child it celebrated. My two brothers were born at the end of the 1930s, and I came along in 1959, but it looks like it could have been around for any of us. I'm not sure if it's old enough to have been a gift to my grandmother for my mother's birth. (My mother owned an antique store in Florida in the 1950s, so there's also a chance it came in through there, and wasn't for anyone in the family.) And I've never seen another one like it. Anyone have any ideas?
