Hummel “Follow the Leader” Miniature Porcelain Tea Set — Reutter Porzellan, Busch Gardens Exclusive, Limited Edition of 1500, in Fitted Wicker Basket (New Old Stock)

Look closely at one of these teacups and you'll find three children walking arm in arm, laughing about something, with a little dog hurrying to keep up behind them. That's "Follow the Leader" — one of M.J. Hummel's best-loved images, signed right in the transfer, with sprigs of red flowers scattered around it. The German title on the base reads "Lach mit," which is about as good an instruction as any: Laugh With Me. Here's the part worth getting right. The image is Hummel's, but the set itself was made by Reutter Porzellan of Germany, produced under license from Goebel (© ARS AG, Zug, Switzerland). Reutter has been making these charming child-size porcelain sets for decades, and this one was made as a Busch Gardens exclusive — the little porcelain plaque tucked into the set says so, and numbers it as a limited edition of 1,500. So not just a Hummel image on a tea set, but a specific, countable one. The porcelain is gloss white with fired gold rims on the plates, saucers, and teapot lid — the good kind of gold, brushed on and fired in, not a decal stuck on top. This is a child-size service for two, and you get the full company: a teapot with its lid — it measures 5 x 3½ inches — a creamer, a sugar, teacups, saucers, plates, and a set of miniature stainless flatware. And then there's the basket, which is really the trick of the thing. Everything nests down into a fitted woven wicker hamper lined in deep red satin, closed up with little leather buckle straps. A whole tea party you could carry in one hand. This one came to us from an estate in Lexington, North Carolina, and it clearly spent its years being kept rather than played with. The flatware is still sealed in its cellophane. Most of the porcelain is still folded up in its original tissue. It's a proper service for two. "The best things in life are not things," goes the old line, but a small, complete, unspoiled thing that made somebody smile the day they bought it comes awfully close.

Highlights

• M.J. Hummel's "Follow the Leader" artwork, signed in the transfer, with sprigs of red flowers
• Made by Reutter Porzellan, Germany, under Goebel license (© ARS AG, Zug, Switzerland)
• Busch Gardens exclusive — limited edition of 1,500, noted on the porcelain plaque
• New old stock: unused, most pieces still tissue-wrapped, flatware still cellophane-sealed

Details

• Gloss white porcelain with fired gold rims on plates, saucers, and the teapot lid
• Child-size service for two: teapot with lid (5 x 3½ inches), creamer, sugar, teacups, saucers, plates, and miniature stainless flatware
• Presentation basket: woven wicker, deep red satin lining, leather buckle straps — included
• German (post-1990) production, dated by the "Germany" mark and ARS AG Zug licensing

Condition: New old stock, and it shows. The set was kept complete and unused — most of the porcelain is still in its original tissue and the flatware is still sealed in its cellophane. There's no outer shipping box. The wicker basket that carries it all shows the gentle, honest age you'd expect from about thirty years; it's the original carrier and part of the charm. A little set that waited a long time for the right little table.