Have you seen the little piggies?

Well, what to say?  I can say that 1735 McGee is a small, neat house in neighborhood of small, neat houses in the northern flats.  And that there are a lot of pigs.  Rusty pigs and ceramic pigs.  A little farm scene behind a fence with a miniature windmill.  You don’t see them all at first.   Keep looking. Pigs everywhere.  This is a collection shared with the world.  I wonder what the inside of the house looks like.  I have a pretty good idea, I think.  Pigs.

This is the first of several major quirky sites that I will share based on small figures.  For pure joy this can’t be beat.  It enjoys, you can see, a high quirkometer rating for kids.   Let’s see the pigs….

And lastly a sad reminder of the fate that befalls many real-life pigs:

I had been by McGee several times, and had taken a large group with Berkeley Path Wanderers there, all without knowing who or how or why.  Time to find out!

I knocked on the door.  I met Diane Hamm.  I talked with her for an hour.  A lovely hour at that.

Diane Hamm is Berkeley born and raised.  In the photo above she surveys McGee street, wearing a bright orange WHATEVER shirt.  She has been collecting pigs and pig-related ephemera for 60 years, starting with a Steiff stuffed pig that her grandmother gave her.

She is a member of the Happy Pig Collectors Club. She estimates that she has 5,000 pigs figure and ephemera.  She married a man named Hamm – how perfect is that!  She calls her outdoors display her “Hammsty.”  As in pigsty – right?

Here are a few photos of her collection:

She has close to 100 antique lard tins hanging from ceiling hooks in her kitchen.  These are her favorites, Farmer Peet. Note the changing logos.

She has 75 pig T-shirts with which she will make a quilt.  That’s a quilt I’d like to see.

On the delicate issue of consumption – she likes a good pork sausage or pork chop, but avoids ham and on the whole would rather eat a piece of beef.

Hamm speaks of the children in the neighborhood and how they have a sense of ownership in the outdoor pieces.  People bring her pig figures.  Her pigs make her happy.           And it makes me happy that she shares a small part of her passion with the street, giving us a glimpse of a wonderful collection.

Who knew that so many pigs existed???