Our House

Is A Very Very Fine House

Oh, you're probably thinking I'm talking about my real house. No, I'm referring to those cute little china replicas of Dutch houses that KLM has been giving out in business class (and first class before that) for over 50 years. Each has a shot of Bols genever inside its small china frame.

I saw this story in the Wall Street Journal (they are so painful about giving access to non-subscribers) this morning and I raced to my (somewhat grown up and gone) daughter's room after remembering these on the bookshelf:

I think H must have brought them home from a business trip and they spent years sitting quietly on a shelf. Who knew how valuable they were or how desired?!! I'm so happy we never opened them (or that no kid took a secret swig) which kept their full value intact. Actually, they are a very affordable collectable, often starting just under 10 bucks a house on Ebay or less for the miniatures.

Since 1952, KLM has issued different houses made using the same process as the famous blue Delft pottery and tiles. The final layer of glaze gives the houses a super shiny luster.

There are 88 houses now with a new one coming out in the fall to celebrate KLM's 89th birthday. The most remarkable thing to me is that the airline continues giving them out even in these austere times. It is a great gimmick for KLM, though, with the WSJ reporting that they are avidly collected. It sounds like the moment the plane takes off the jockeying begins in business class.

The good news is we have two of them, the bad news is we have to get our gin elsewhere.