More Baby Planters

Do you remember our (mostly) baby planter collection?


Well, we found a few more.

This is a bunny.

She's wearing a flowered Easter hat and a pretty Easter bow and those are bunny ears flopping over the rim of her hat. So she must be an Easter Bunny. No matter what my friends and relatives might say, she's not a kitty or a hamster or a beaver. (Really, Dad, the Easter Beaver? Was growing up on the farm really that weird?)

I think she's the cutest bunny ever. She makes a great holder for my colored pencils. She had a few chips and flaws, but she was half off at the Goodwill and so cute I couldn't resist. She was made in Japan for the E. O. Brody Co. - I'm guessing in the late '50s or early '60s.

Look at this cute little baby.

Isn't she precious?


And she's riding a polka dot giraffe! Giraffes are my favorite animal and I never expected to find one in a baby planter.

Like the bunny, this planter has a few chips, but it's a GIRAFFE!!!!! The only marking is a stock number, so I don't know who made it or when, but it has a '70s feel to me.

This is the Napco bassinet that I mentioned in the earlier post, but which wasn't pictured. It's a pretty pink color and has a nice music box, but I wish they had tried to hide the screws.

The last find isn't a planter.

I doubt it's vintage, although it was made in Japan.

But it does have babies.

Lots of them.

Such a proud Mama Pig.

Those piglets kind of creep me out. They look like fish heads. But Mom loves it. She smiles every time she looks at it. We think it's a candy dish. The top of the carriage with the piglets lifts off. Or maybe it's supposed to be for cotton balls, etc. in a baby's room.

All of these came from Goodwill, for $2-$4 each.

I'm linking this post to
Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville

B is for Baby Planter

I'm joining ABC Wednesday today.

Last winter, beginning around Thanksgiving, my mother and I started researching and looking for green depression glassware to grow her collection (she hadn't gotten anything new since 1995). In her search to find out more about a particular piece she owns she stumbled upon The Thriftshop Romantic blog and, in doing so, discovered the Thrifting Blogoverse.

Along the way, she discovered the joys of baby planters, specifically what Jenn (@ Thriftshop Romantic) calls "lambie whammies"; basically any planter with a lamb on it. My mother then hoped and longed for a lamb planter of her very own and, as you should well know, once you've seen something online, it shows up wherever you're looking.

I soon found this cute little lamb at our local Goodwill and we brought her home.

Little did we know that the lamb would spawn our obsession with looking for baby planters. Since we found the lamb in February we have acquired 9 baby planters. One that we just found, and haven't photographed, is a pink bassinet from Napco with a music box attached to it.

Every time we go to Goodwill or to any estate or garage sales, the first things I look for are Pyrex and Baby planters. I often find more planters than we buy because we're too cheap for most Goodwill prices and we have limited space so we hold out for the cutest ones.

Like this one!

This planter is the cutest I have ever seen. I almost missed it. I was about to leave Goodwill when I spotted it on the top shelf in the back. It is the most expensive planter we own at a whopping $5.99.

In trying to date our planters we found that the stylized R on the bottom of this sailboat stands for Rubens Originals.

Rubens Originals is particularly famous for head vases, but they manufactured many other kinds of planters. Planters were available for all occasions and could be bought at your local florist's shop.

Baby planters were especially popular and were widely produced by many companies (NAPCO, RELPO, INARCO, etc) and marked on the bottom with stickers or stamps. Some were sold in ceramic shops so that people could paint their own. You can tell commercially-painted planters from ceramic shop planters by looking at the base. Even if the planter has no maker's mark, if the bottom is unglazed it was likely commercially produced. If the bottom is glazed (with small unglazed sections from a tripod), it was probably painted at the ceramic shop.

In the 1980s cute and funny planters went out of fashion in favor of glass, baskets, etc. Baby planters can still be had today but they don't have the colors, the charm, or the stylings of vintage planters.

I have one that is not a baby planter per se but still gets to live with the cute ones. All I know about it is that it says Made In Japan on the bottom and is darn cute. If you have any information on this Wood Sprite, please let me know!

And I noticed this on the bottom of our lamb planter when I took them outside to photograph them for you all.

This indicates that, contrary to what my mother believed (based on the intensity of the pink) it IS old and is a Rubens Original. Our collection is supposed to end up in the bathroom eventually. Now all we need is a shelf to put them on...

I'm linking this to:

ABC Wednesday

Thrifty Thursdays at Bloggeritaville

Treasures and Trinkets Thursday at My Cottage Charm

A Few of My Favorite Things Saturday at Bargain Hunting With Laurie

Roses Of Inspiration