It's A Small World After All!
I saw my first miniature animal figurines when I was shopping for a birthday present for my niece. It was then that I learned about Herend miniature animal figurines. Herend has been producing porcelains since the 1870's. The animals surged in popularity in the 1950's. Herend has a wide selection of animals, bunnies, cats and dogs, deer, roosters, pigs, horses and ducks. The Herend line is very easy to distinguish due to it's fishnet design. These are highly collectible and can run hundreds of dollars each. A bit too expensive for my pocket. Another famous maker of miniature animal figurines is Hagen Renaker. I saw these in a doll shop. Hagen Renaker is an American maker which started production in 1945. These miniatures are familiar to a lot of people. You can see them in gift shops all over the country. The line includes horses, dogs, cats, mice, birds and more. Their By the Pond Collection includes a Mama, Baby and Papa Turtles as well as a Salamander. The miniature cat figurines can be found lying down, dancing, crouching, sitting and even playing a piano. The miniature dog collection includes many different breeds including Golden Retriever, Airedale, King Charles Spaniel, Maltese, Bichon Frise and more. The cat figurines start at 1 1/2" high up to 2 5/8" high.
I chose several figurines from the Hagen Renaker collection for my niece. That collection started ten years ago. She now has many figurines, some that have been discontinued. Aside from the two big miniatures animal figurine producers mentioned above there are a lot of other places to find them. One is artglass-pottery. They carry Miniature Animals Wildlife of the World resin figurines by Steven Langford. The collection includes a bull, a gecko, an elephant manatee and a panther. You can also find miniature animal figurines at some craft sites. These can be bought flocked or of plastic and resin. You may want to buy miniature animal figurines for your child to play with. You can find museum quality figurines on the site Real Cool Toys. They carry some very interesting animals, some that we'd never heard of like civets, genets, mongoose, and badgers. They carry bats and dinosaurs, African animal and farm animals. Another type of figurine is crystal. It's easy to do an online search and find many crystal miniature animal figurines. How about a dog with bone in mouth at 2 1/3" high or a cat on attack at 4" high. You can find these crystal animal figurines at online shops like Fantasy Crystal Figurines and All things Crystal. |
