Simply Thimbles

Some of the thimbles play a central role in our Christmas Decorations! These are all new additions to the collection. All of them except one were part of a job lot of 63 that I picked up on - yes you guessed it - eBay. £3.98 for the lot. The best bargain yet. The one second in from the right saying "Happy Holiday" was a freebee from one of my regular suppliers. It came with a purchase of Mr Men and Little Misses thimbles from - I bet you can't guess where. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

These are the lucky thimbles. The rest of the collection is all wrapped up in bubble wrap and crammed into an overflowing cat food box. I picked the glass fronted display case up whilst on holiday in Burton on Sea a couple of years ago. We went on a day trip to Weston Super Mare, just up the coast. The indoor market there had the display units on special for £19.99. I do love a bargain. I've never seen another one like it, not at that price anyway. Not even on eBay. If any of you know where I can get one, please let me know. The little house shaped one was yet another eBay purchase. What did we used to do before eBay was invented?

The little bear was closely followed by the Homepride Fred set. Not quite as much of a bargain but just as welcome all the same. From that point on my collection has grown bit by bit over the years and includes thimbles made from bone china, metal, silver and plastic. As with all collections, I have noticed that there is an underlying theme. I tend to go for the cartoon and film character thimbles like Mickey Mouse, the Wizard of OZ, Scooby Doo, Bob the Builder and Topcat rather than the floral or place linked thimbles. That's not to say I don't buy the more traditional designs - I do - but not so often. My most recent purchase is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. My most expensive character thimble would be the Teletubbies. At £5.50 that was the most expensive china thimble bought to date. I have to admit that it’s probably the one that I am most disappointed with as Dipsy’s face (the green one) is badly blemished. Still, that’s the danger of an online auction – it’s too easy...

I started collecting thimbles about three years ago and currently have just under 200. I only have two display units so not all of them are on show at the same time. Why did I start collecting? Well, it all started with a little brown bear. I was checking out the auctions due to finish on eBay and came across this little guy around 5 minutes before he was due to end. He looked so cute and I felt a bit sorry for him, sat there with no bids. So I bid on him and won him. A bargain at only 50p. I was delighted a few days later when he arrived in the post looking just as cute as he had online. So began my fascination with thimbles. Up until that point the only thimbles I had been aware of were the plastic ones in sewing kits, the metal one that I use for sewing and the souvenir ones on sale at theme parks and historical buildings. Most were showing the place I was visiting or were purely functional with floral designs. The little bear was the first thimble that I had come across...