5" Fortune Cat Maneki Neko Waving Lucky Cat (many colours) (Silver)

with a little affluence thrown in!I've been going to the same Chinese restaurant in Liverpool's Chinatown for years now. They have one of these 'lucky Chinese Cats' in there. Much larger than this one and I've always wanted one since I saw it. Had a look around good old Amazon and opted for one in silver to go with the colour scheme in the living room.These are known as Maneki-neko, meaning 'beckoning cat' and are considered a good luck talisman. It is said the higher the paw the greater the distance good fortune will come from and they actually originated in Japan, not China!This one arrived well packaged in bubble wrap in a nice Chinese box. . .in a box! No damage or faulty bits.In the box is the cat and some stickers. There's 16 of these stickers and what they are is Chinese good luck, best wishes messages that you can (if you want) stick on the paw so it looks like the cat is waving it! They're all in Chinese but I know a little Chinese (yeah whatever!) so I used a translation app on my phone to see what they say.My god I need to get a life!Anyway, some of them say 'Happy', 'congratulations', 'prosperity', 'health', 'welcome' and 'the source of money spreads widely', there's a few blanks that you can write on yourself too.This cat is 5 x 4 x 3 inches and very light at around 150g. It does run on one AA battery which slots underneath. There is no cover for the battery compartment but that's not a problem as it's under the cat anyway! So you put your battery in and he's away with his constant waving once a second, the arm goes on non stop. The arm does have a little 'tick' (like a clock) to it when it moves.The cat is also carrying a coin or 'koban' which reads 'sen man ryo' which means 1000 x 10,000 ryo. A ryo was a gold coin used in Japan in the Edo period. 10,000,000 of them was a huge fortune, which is what the cat is holding!This is a cheap plastic ornament but. . . the colours are great and it looks the part sitting there waving its little paw off!My kids said it was tacky, a load of crap and I'm a crank. Well I may be a crank but they cannot stop looking at it, referring to it and I think they're coming around and beginning to 'like' the cat!RecommendedOh, that Chinese restaurant in Liverpool's Chinatown if you're ever there (you never know) is called The North Garden. The salt and Pepper ribs are to die for! :)Update - 19/Oct/14 - Well, I'm wondering if this lucky cat does actually work in promoting luck or maybe some sort of placebo positivity. I actually bought this cat in the May as I needed a bit of luck to get something off the ground and in the July I got the luck I was looking for which has exceeded my expectations by a long way and some more! More luck this came my way this weekend which makes this cat my new best friend! Does it work? Who knows?. . . .Update 30/July/15 - I am a firm believer in this cat now! I've had what I can only call amazing luck in the last 12 months and not all money related. It's gotta be the cat . . .hasn't it?

Just as expected and just the right size for my mums house

Tried 3 AA batteries and nothing

A superb addition for my wife's desk at home.This one is silver-coated plastic - her previous one which she conveniently left behind when she left her last job was gold coloured - she did't like her gold one particularly and I have no reason to think she will like the silver one any better.The waving arm has a small tendency to stick on the down stroke - no matter - if it doesn't correct itself I will dismantle it and give the internals a squirt of WD40.It has in the box what I think they call "scrolls" - pieces of paper with Chinese characters intended to be stuck onto the waving arm.I am very happy - now we have the Fortune Cat here at home our lives will be complete. I am unable to understand how anybody could rate this fortune feline poorly.

Great quailty, no bottom battery cover however.

Nice novelty item.

It looks good, but the battery does not have a long life and that spoils the happiness.

I love these lucky cats ive bought 2 already for friends,they just great.