MARCH 2022 Volume 2 No.9
FEATURES: LONGHAIR – CAMBYSES (1899) SHORTHAIR – SHERDLEY MICHAEL BREED – THE BRITISH SHORTHAIR & NEW COLOUR VARIATIONS AND MORE…… INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR CAT LOVERS - LINECHASERS & FANCIERS OF FELINE HISTORY
“Today’s achievements are part of tomorrow’s history”
HARRISON WEIR COLLECTION © A-Cat-Emy Concepts
PUBLISHED BY A-CAT-EMY CONCEPTS for THE HARRISON WEIR COLLECTION EDITOR
John G. Smithson editor@felishistorica.com HISTORY PARTNERS The CFA Foundation COLUMNISTS/CONTRIBUTORS
MARCH 2022
VOLUME 2 NUMBER 9
EDITORIAL The Editor outlines the contents of Felis Historica – Volume 2 No.9!
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CONTRIBUTING TEAM MEMBERS Gallery of our Team of Columnists, Contributors & Correspondents
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Contents
SHERDLEY MICHAEL (1901) - by John Smithson A foundation English (British) Shorthair…….
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CATS ON STAMPS – Collated by Karen Lawrence Feline Philately – by Patrick Roberts (reprinted with permission)
24 30
THE AMERICAN SHORTHAIR – New Book Release Pre-Order Info.
35
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GENETICS YOU CAN LEARN FROM YOUR CAT! - by Dr. Leslie Lyons Accuracies of Genetic Testing - The Problem of Penetrance
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Laura Vocelle
CELEBRATION GALLERY - EXAMPLES OF THE ‘BEST OF BRITISH’
44
(Muscat, Oman)
CAMBYSES (1899) – by John Smithson An early Chinchilla male (Grandson of Ch. Silver Lambkin)
78
THE DESCENDANTS OF BASTET – by Karen Lawrence. New Book release information…
90
A PERSIAN RHAPSODY IN BLUE – by John Smithson. New Book release information…
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CELEBRATING MODERN DAY LEADING CATS – Part 1 Our Feature Cats: British Blues CFA GC, BW, NW CASTLKATZ PEEVES OF CHLOEADORE DM CFA GC, BW, NW. CHLOEADORES MR. BLUE CHANTRESS DM
94 102
A GALLERY OF NEW COLOURS IN BRITISH SHORTHAIRS
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BEHIND EVERY FAMOUS PERSON IS A CAT – by Graham Harrop
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CELEBRATING MODERN DAY CATS – Part 2 Our Feature Cat: British Blue Longhair TICA QUADRUPLE GCA LAZIBLUES ROBYN
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CAT POEMS and OTHER FANCIES / & TEN CATS – by Graham Harrop
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Karen Lawrence (St. Catharines, Canada)
Lorraine Shelton (California, USA)
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Dr. Leslie Lyons (Missouri, USA)
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Chloe Chung (Hong Kong)
Florent Fissot (Monsegur, France)
Dr. Victor Zaalov (Acre, Israel)
Valerie Sheldrake Feline Historian (Suffolk, UK)
Jamie Christian (Ohio, USA)
PHOTOGRAPHY / GRAPHICS
Helmi & Ken Flick (Florida, USA)
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Jack Terry (Florida, USA)
CONTENT All Rights Reserved © A-Cat-Emy Concepts SUBSCRIPTIONS Published Monthly Single Issue $4.00 USD ANNUAL $48.00 USD
FELIS HISTORICA
Editorial Editorial ’FELIS HISTORICA’ JOHN G. SMITHSON EDITOR
OUR COVER PHOTO Image cropped from “Miss Tabitha’s School” Antique Colour Print after a painting by LOUIS WAIN (c.1895) The Harrison Weir Collection
COPYRIGHT ISSN: 2744-4430 National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa © A-CAT-EMY CONCEPTS / FELIS HISTORICA THE HARRISON WEIR COLLECTION No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, screen capture, or otherwise, without prior written permission. No responsibility is accepted for accuracy of advertisements or information. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED www.felis-historica.com www.harrisonweir.com
For our third edition for the 2022 calendar year, the featured breed is the British Shorthair (formerly the English Shorthair), as well as its relatively newly recognised counterpart, the British Longhair. The British Shorthair is currently ranked the sixth most popular breed by CFA. The British Shorthair shares some of its foundation lines with both Russian Shorthairs (known formerly as the Foreign Shorthair) and some links with Persians, both in the early days of the fancy, and during the Great War. (WW1). The early controversy over the English and Foreign blue shorthairs, was that there was only ONE standard for many years, and this singularly favoured the English style of cat – so that exhibitors who were breeding and/or specialising in Foreign Blues (mainly Russian) were disadvantaged. The Judges of the day, if they were to adhere to the standard therefore had to choose accordingly. Therefore, the cats that did not conform to that single standard were usually not amongst the prize-winners. Fortunately, one judge finally suggested the obvious, that what was needed was TWO standards, one for the English or ‘British’ blue style cat, which was more robust, more compact, heavier in boning, broader in chest with ears set lower and more often with yellow, or gold eye colour; and another for the ’Foreign’ shorthair, which was leaner, with a more wedged shaped head with upright ears, and distinctly more refined body type and more often than not, ‘green’ eyes. Our feline historical article for shorthairs features a cat named SHERDLEY ALEXIS. His breeder was clearly of the opinion that her cats were Russian in origin, and most of her breeding stock carried Russian names! But while the two styles of cat were competing, her stockier styled cats did win awards
GC, NW Kitties Land Blue Fire of Teddy Cat
IN CELEBRATION OF
MARCH 2022
BRITISH SHs & LHs
awards, as by phenotype, they were more closely aligned to the early ‘British’ or ‘English’ style as described in the standard of the day. Hence, for those of you with either Russian Blues or British Blues, it may come as a surprise to realise that in late 19th century and early 20th century terms, your cats are very likely to have common ancestry. In this issue Dr. Lyons provides another insightful article on Genetic testing and specifically the problem of ‘penetrance’. Karen Lawrence of the CFA Foundation provides us with a glimpse into ‘Cats on Stamps’ with eaxmples of stamps and first day covers held in the Feline Historical Museum. She also shares a reprinted article ‘Feline Philately’ by stamp officionado Patrick Roberts, who has permitted us to share his piece written in 2005 and published in Fanc-eMews, in 2007. I wish to extend personal thanks to Allen Shi, and Chloe Chung and others for their assistance in collating the photos and material for our Gallery of the ‘Best of British’ and to Helmi and Ken Flick for sharing their amazing work. A nod also to Karin Tenbensel for photos of some of the newer colours being bred in the British Shothair.
Above:
CFA GC, NW Kitties Land D’Coat of Chelsea Rose Below:
TICA Quadruple GCA Laziblues Robyn
Lastly, as we are about to go to digital press, lets take a moment to consider and pray for our cat-loving friends in the Ukraine, who have in recent days suffered the concern we all fear most, what to do to protect our innocent pets from the devastating effects of war and essential interrupted supply chains. With social media we are only too aware of its affects and nothing is now hidden from view.
John
EDITOR
Photo: Helmi Flick Cat Photography