Wabbit hunting

[Digger54]

Had my display case open this morning and thought I would share my method of display of old copper coin finds over the years. At a picket point I found a flattened brass mass. I carefully unfolded it to find out that it was a box; not sure what the function was. Decided that I would use it to display the old copper coins I had found. Decided that pile of coins needed a security guard and put a brass rabbit that I found in a small Confederate camp on top the coins. My research on the rabbit revealed it was a later period rabbit so either it was a hunter drop or a hunter's kid's drop.

You never know what you will turn up amongst relics.

 

[robertk]

That's pretty cool. Nice display.

 

[Red-Coat]

Hey, that’s not just any old wabbit! It’s Beatrix Potter’s ‘Benjamin Bunny’, who first appeared in her beautifully illustrated 1904 children’s book ‘The Tale of Benjamin Bunny’.

Small cold-painted bronze figurines of Potter’s characters from this and her other books began appearing in various sizes and poses almost immediately after publication (but through until at least the 1950s), mainly produced in Vienna, Austria. Some of the larger ones are signed on the bottom for Franz Bergmann as ‘NAMGREB’ (Bergmann backwards, with the last N dropped) but other makers copied them without any signature. Miniature Bergmann pieces don’t usually have a signature.

The early ones are regarded as highly collectable.

 

[Digger54]

Hey, that’s not just any old wabbit! It’s Beatrix Potter’s ‘Benjamin Bunny’, who first appeared in her beautifully illustrated 1904 children’s book ‘The Tale of Benjamin Bunny’.

Small cold-painted bronze figurines of Potter’s characters from this and her other books began appearing in various sizes and poses almost immediately after publication (but through until at least the 1950s), mainly produced in Vienna, Austria. Some of the larger ones are signed on the bottom for Franz Bergmann as ‘NAMGREB’ (Bergmann backwards, with the last N dropped) but other makers copied them without any signature. Miniature Bergmann pieces don’t usually have a signature.

The early ones are regarded as highly collectable.

Thanks for the history lesson! I looked, and as suspected Benjamin's arse is old and wrinkled just like mine. Benjamin still has remnants of the paint which has his coat either orange or brown.

 

[Red-Coat]

Thanks for the history lesson! I looked, and as suspected Benjamin's arse is old and wrinkled just like mine. Benjamin still has remnants of the paint which has his coat either orange or brown.

Brown, in Potter's original illustrations:

 

[Digger54]

Brown, in Potter's original illustrations:

View attachment 2260349

Surfing around I found a match. It is listed as a 1920s...

"Austrian Cold Painted Bronze Miniature Benjamin Bunny Figurine- Vintage Vienna"​