Once upon a time (like, back when I was making these pendants) domestic cats were held to come in three basic ‘tabby’ patterns: agouti, mackerel and classic (also called oyster). All three have the ticked or banded fur, like rabbits, but only the latter two manifested stripes. IIRC, the classic tabbies, which is more or less depicted on the right kitty,^[1] are the most recessive; the thin-striped mackerel tabby allele is dominant. The agouti is dominant over both. This explains why mackerel tabbies are more common, though I gather the classic tabbies which are favored in the UK, are also more common there.

the pendant on the left, including eyepin, is 26x19x3mm. lampblack ink, walrus ivory, late 1980s?

Sleeping kitty pendants of this type were a bread and butter item, and I sold a great many of them. I would have been thrilled to have put the new clouded leopard/marbled tabby patterns, not to mention rosetted and spotted ones on my kitties, but the latter was just beginning to be known, and the other two weren't really part of the mainstream. Nowadays, by dint of breeding domestic cats to servals, we're getting all sorts of new coat patterns. In fact it seems to me that cat breeds have exploded over the last few years.^[2]

photo, file 14jan10, intro 19jan10.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.