In my first few weeks of work as a Graduate Assistant in Special Collections this year, I catalogued and accessioned a collection of Gilbert and Sullivan memorabilia donated to the College by Ivy Reade Relkin, ’50. It was easy to date and identify most of the objects based on manufacturers’ markings, but this painted bronze figurine had none; its condition suggested that it might be significantly older than the other objects in the collection. A hand-written note enclosed in the donation file indicated that the figurine was a souvenir given at the opening night of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado, at London’s Savoy Theatre in 1885. The Mikado was an instant success, and remains one of the most popular pieces of musical theater ever written; if this figurine, which depicts the “Three Little Maids,” really was distributed at the play’s very first public performance, it would be an exciting find.

I decided to see whether the assertion in the note could be confirmed. My research led me first to the Harvard Theatre Collection, a department of the Houghton Library of rare books and manuscripts.  The bronze figurine was new to them. “We are in the midst of processing our own sizeable collection of G&S material compiled by our late curator, Frederic Woodbridge Wilson,” a curatorial assistant wrote in response to my inquiry. “[Wilson] was, all kidding aside, quite fond of figurines, and yet I cannot find a single item that would be similar to yours or presented on a similar occasion. In fact, we haven’t any figurines at all…we have cookies, candy bars, playing cards–all manner of souvenirs and memorabilia–and not one figurine!”

At Harvard’s suggestion, however, I began to explore the extensive — and friendly — world of Gilbert and Sullivan aficionados. I discovered a collection of Gilbert and Sullivan-themed ceramics at Cal State Northridge, a web archive with links to G&S “clip art” as well as to librettos and plot summaries, and the website of a group that produces the duo’s comic operas in Central Texas. I contacted various collectors and was referred from enthusiast to enthusiast; finally, one correspondent expressed certainty that the figurine had not, in fact, been distributed at the Savoy Theatre on the Mikado’s opening night.  He added, “I’ve never seen it described as a production souvenir before, though I suppose it’s possible—perhaps in Vienna where Mikado was performed on several occasions, by the D’Oyly Carte and others, in the late 1880s.” A second G&S maven confirmed the opinion: “It was not a first night souvenir [nor was it] ever a D’Oyly Carte souvenir. It’s actually a Vienna bronze made in the mid 90s.”

The Gilbert and Sullivanists had reached a consensus: the “Three Little Maids” figurine was not a memento from Mikado’s opening night. It was however, an early example of the kinds of playful collectibles that continue to circulate among enthusiasts, who form a community that is as vibrant in 2012 as it was in the late nineteenth century.

S. Backer