Oh Jean I have just seen this post. How very, very sad. I hope you find out what really happened to Floyd, stop the culprit before any other animals get poisoned. What a sinful thing for someone to do. My heart just breaks for you. Losing a much loved pet to natural causes is heart breaking enough without someone deliberately doing it. I hope and pray you catch the person and they are punished for this unspeakable deed. Valerie

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was at a dead end for so long. I added some more pictures, including the mark. My nana couldn't find any info on him either back when she was going to sell him. Jean Gille died back in the late 1860's. This figurine is almost 6' tall and about 2' thick. He has so much character. I'm trying to sell him for her but all I know is it was made by Gille. You've helped so much! Becky Here is a link that might be useful: Picasaweb photos

Hard to believe she was 90 years old. RIP

SPOILERS! What struck me in re-reading this after many years is that as a teenager I thought Jean Brodie was wonderful and Sandy was rotten; as an adult, I see JB as manipulative and dangerous, though also pitiful and self-deluded, and Sandy as the clear thinker -- though I have to admit I'm still not overly-fond of Sandy (perhaps it's those little piggy eyes that were noted over and over again). The other aspect of the story that stood out to me this time (and I'm repeating myself from the other thread that includes TPOMJB) was that when Sandy rebelled against Brodie, the usual youth and adult roles were reversed. In my experience of books and movies, the youth are usually more freedom-seeking, sexually active, risk-taking and outside-the-box thinkers while the adult characters are usually more traditional, possibly religious, and socially conservative. To reverse the roles made the book much more interesting. The authority figure was the libertine, the child in her charge was the traditionalist. IMO Brodie was definitely trying to live through "her" girls, and make the girls over in her own image. My strong impression was that she was very sure of herself and truly believed her POV was perfectly right and would benefit the girls. I don't think she was manipulating them just for the sake of manipulating them. Only Sandy seemed to be aware of the scope and danger of JB's influence. The others seemed to safely drift away into adulthood, for the most part unharmed by her influence. Dido, I agree the letters were a riot. Very true to girls that age and very unintentionally funny. The men in the book seemed rather vacant and easily led, particularly the music teacher. The art teacher had his own selfish idea of what was morally acceptable, as he was cheating on his wife without qualm. Not very likable, either of them. I've never seen the movie, so I had no image of Jean Brodie in my mind. I must confess that when I think of Maggie Smith, I think of Professor McGonagall! I'll have to see if I can rent it.