Animal Fairings, Lobsters and Dogs
Lobster and Dog Fairings
Fairings were manufactured in Germany between 1890 and 1910. The adorable souvenirs were called Fairings because they were sold at town, city or state fairs. The most popular fairings were pigs because of the german correlation between pigs being lucky and also showing a sign of wealth. The second most popular fairing were bears - modeled much in the same fashion as pigs. These were popular because of the Teddy Bear craze going on in America named after Teddy Roosevelt.
There were other fairings made depicting lobsters, dogs, frogs and even devils. These figurines appear to be more rare. Although the themes are similar such as involving the figure with a basket, pin dish or shoe, which were commonly made for the pigs, these figurines in and of themselves are far and few between. I've only seen the dogs in the shoe one time on ebay in all the years I've been searching. Lobsters are equally as rare.
A book available on Amazon.com is called "This little Piggy" and shows many different fairings created. Although the pricing is from 1992 it is still a great reference book.
Here are some interesting links to other types of fairings:
