TALISMAN DE LA CHESNAIE (1944)


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND | PARENTAGE & OWNERSHIP | SIBLINGS & SHOWS | BREEDING & PROGENY
PHOTOS | SOCIAL MEDIA | REFERENCES

Photo: Nos Amis Les Chats (1947) by Marcel Reney
Courtesy of The Harrison Weir Collection

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

Good photographs of popular Blue Persians winning at Continental European Shows are at times difficult to acquire, and information on them, even more-so; but this highly successful Swiss Cat, was registered through the Cat Club de Geneve, (Geneva Cat Club) in the Livre Des Origines (Stud-Book) of the Federation Feline Suisse, (Swiss Feline Federation), (Los. No.729) bred and owned by Mlle Chamonin, of the 'de la Chesnaie' cattery.

PARENTAGE & OWNERSHIP:

'Talisman' was born May 9, 1944; but of course, his show career did not start until after the end of the Second World War.

It must have been terribly hard for a breeder during the War Years, especially located in central Europe to maintain any reliable supply of food for their cats, let alone successfully house and manage them for breeding purposes. The pedigree of 'Talisman' is revealing in that it again reinforces the continued influence of English stock on the founding and supportive role it played in European as well as American catteries, as well as the dominant role it continued to play in reaffirming the standing of the Blue Persian in that success, worldwide.

         CH Autocrat of the Court
    Farquhar April Showers
    |   CH Dewdrop of Dunesk
Talisman De La Chesnaie, May-1944, blue, M
    |   Lourac
    Poumzi
        Tino

The sire of Talisman was a cat named 'Farquhar April Showers' who carries a European registration number, but was himself, from out of two famous English-bred cats. As to who owned 'Farquhar April Showers' is unclear, but he is likely to have been bred by Mrs. Brunton, who continued to own 'Dewdrop of Dunesk'; but his sire, 'The Autocrat of the Court' was eventually owned by Madame Ravel in France.

What is interesting is that the dam of 'Talisman' was a female named 'Poumzi' for whom we have a pedigree in the 'Livre des Origines' which indicates she was in fact a double grand-daughter of 'Roland of Dunesk,' through her sire, a male named 'Lourac' and she came out of a sire to daughter breeding, ex her dam 'Tino' who was also a daughter of 'Lourac' and hence a grand-daughter of 'Roland of Dunesk'.

The Dunesk connection with the Chamonin family extended back eleven years to 1933, where we find that the blue male 'Daybreak of Dunesk' (by 'Cedro of Callow' out of 'Delphinium of Dunesk') was exported to Switzerland to M.A. Marcel Chamonin; only to be followed in 1934, by the blue male 'Roland of Dunesk' (by 'Mischief of Bredon' out of 'Lavender Lady of Dunesk') as well as two blue females, namely 'Dahlia of Dunesk' and 'Dainty Bess of Dunesk' (both sired by 'Laughton Laurel' out of 'Delphinium of Dunesk'). It should then come as no surprise to discover that the original import 'Daybreak of Dunesk' was the sire of the female named 'Kalow', who when bred to 'Roland of Dunesk' produced the stud male 'Lourac' the double sire/grandsire of 'Poumzi' the dam of 'Talisman'.

By then breeding 'Poumzi' to 'Farquhar April Showers', the Chamonin's were tripling on both 'Mischief of Bredon' and 'Lavender Lady of Dunesk' while adding in the bloodlines from Mrs. Oglethorpe's famous blues, descended from 'Pierrot of the Court' and 'Colneside Caruso'. Only one eighth of the pedigree is showing as 'N.I' or 'No information' while almost all of the other seven eighths, is derived from purely English-bred bloodstock.

SIBLINGS & SHOWS:

No records are currently extant for any sire or dam siblings.

'Talisman' had an excellent show career, gaining 1sts at the C.A.C. and C.A.C.I.B., Berne, 1945 (under Mme Ravel); at Lausanne, 1946 (under Miss York); at Zurich, 1946 (under Mme Brogett); at Neuchatel, 1946; and at Geneva, in 1947, where he won Best Cat in Show.

BREEDING & PROGENY:

Although we have no official records that we can refer to for progeny, it is highly likely that 'Talisman'would have left his mark on European bred Blues, having as he did the combination of bloodlines, plus his high profile as a successful show cat of International standing. We do however have one photo and a name for a single blue daughter, 'Vera de la Chesnaie', blue Persian female, whose photo is given below, aged three months, also owned by Mlle B. Chamonin.

'VERA DE LA CHESNAIE' - THREE-MONTH-OLD FEMALE KITTEN SIRED BY 'TALISMAN DE LA CHESNAIE'
Photo: Nos Amis Les Chats (1947) by Marcel Reney
Archives of The Harrison Weir Collection

PHOTOS:

'INT. CH. TALISMAN DE LA CHESNAIE' - OWNED BY MLLE B. CHAMONIN
Photo: Nos Amis Les Chats (1947) by Marcel Reney
Archives of The Harrison Weir Collection

'INT. CH. TALISMAN DE LA CHESNAIE' - OWNED BY MLLE B. CHAMONIN
Photo: Our Cats Magazine, August 1949
Archives of The CFA Foundation

SOCIAL MEDIA :

PEDIGREE OF 'INT. CH. TALISMAN DE LA CHESNAIE'
From Nos Amis Les Chats (1947) by Marcel Reney
Archives of The Harrison Weir Collection

In Summary:

'Talisman,' represents just one of a sizeable number of Persian cats, bred on the continent, who have contributed to the advance of the Blue and other colours of Persian, throughout modern-day Europe. His pedigree is also a classic example of the influence of British founding bloodstock, that was being consistently exported into Europe and the United States, both before and after the Second World War. It is a delight to see this example of a successful European bred-cat, and we can only wonder what would have been the case, if Miss Frances Simpson had not pushed so hard between 1889 and 1901, when then Blue Persian Cat Society was finally formed, to ensure that the Blue Persian, would ultimately provide the strongest base within the Persian breed.

REFERENCES:

  1. Nos Amis Les Chats (1947) by Marcel Reney (Chamonin)
  2. Livre Des Origines de la Federation Feline Suisse, Cat Club of Geneve.
  3. Our Cats Magazine, August, 1949.
  4. Text © John G. Smithson
  5. Photos and Quotations as per credits noted

Registers associated with this article include The Incorporated Cat Fanciers Association of Great Britain (TICFAGB), National Cat Club (NCC), The Cat Club (CCR), Beresford Cat Club (BCC), Feline Federation Francaise (FFF), Siamese Cat Registry (SCR), US Register & Studbook for Cats (USR)including Supplement(USRS), The Studbook of the American Cat Association (ACA), and the Studbook & Register of the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA).

 


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