Many, many years ago (not sure of the date), the Metropolitan Museum of Art contracted my father-in-law (Wally Higgins) to create a mold for their unofficial museum mascot William the Egypyian faience hippo. Fast-forward to the early 1990's when I was working for Wally. The Met contacted Wally again to re-work the mold and create a master (mother) mold (used to create more working molds). Wally was semi-retired at the time and passed the project along to me. In the background of this OLD Polaroid photo is William and the old mold with the new mold.
At the time, the reproductions were being made in NY by a studio. I always wished for a sample piece.
Fast forward yet again to this week. I FINALLY have my William! I have been checking the museum's on-line shop for a long time, waiting for him to be back in stock. Using a small amount of the money inherited from my father, I ordered him!
There is a group on facebook that is wierd and wonderful secondhand finds, or something like that. Well, they have a thing of looking for house hippos. It stems from a Canadian tv commercial. William is now my House Hippo! But, I wanted to slightly re-name him to reflect my history with him better.
When I was in college, my dad was one of the academic advisors for one of the fraternities. Dad's first name was William, with a second initial of "A". He mainly signed things with "W A Earl". The guys at the fraternity lovingly referred to him as "WA Baby". My father-in-law's first name was Wally. My hippo will be known as WA Baby, as an homage to both my dad and my father-in-law.
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