Posted 9 years ago
dwpipes
(1 item)
I am an individual not a collector. I have two hollow clay figures, which have come to me through my mother from her parents who probably acquired them sometime in the 1920's from an older farming couple from whom they were purchasing their farm. The farm straddled the Illinois-Wisconsin state line. However, these figures remind me of southwestern pueblo polychrome pottery. The dog/wolf/coyote figure is about 6" long by 4" high. The frog/toad figure is about 5.5" long and 4.5" high. Both figures have some damage and/or missing parts. Since the railroad opened Southwestern Native American trade items to the US in the late 1890's, I think that might be the most likely source of these objects. Any information on dating and tribal origin would be greatly appreciated by my mother and myself.
You're right, they are early 20th century souvenir figurines from Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico.
Here's a very similar frog, sold through Adobe Gallery (one of the most-reputable galleries dealing with pueblo pottery): http://www.adobegallery.com/art/Cochiti_Pueblo_Pottery_Frog_Figurine_SOLD122635691074306
Thank you CanyonRoad! I really appreciate your confirmation. The similarities in the two frog figures is striking.
I remember these figures in my grandmother's china cabinet from my childhood and always felt drawn to them as my mother before me must have been. I had always assumed that their origin lay in Missouri, Illinois or Kansas. It was only after my mother's recent request that I try to find out more about them that I took a much closer look. I have lived in New Mexico for almost forty years now and suddenly realized that I saw something familiar in these figures.
It has taken almost one hundred years and a round trip of at least 2600 miles for these figures to make the journey 'home'.