Prized Possessions

The scene is a fairground in 1958.

"Oo-er, George, you are clever, shooting all those ducks down! Have you won the cut-glass vase, do you think?"

"Well, let's see, Doris."

"Well done, sir! You've won a prize! The vase? Oh no, I've got something better than that. Here you are sir, a lucky pup for a lucky pup, eh sir?"

"Here you are, Doris!"

"Oh, George. I'll treasure it always."

You see, the thing about these especially shoddy plaster animals is not just that they are badly made, but that anyone kept them for so long. I got these just a couple of years ago at a car boot sale. Even if the owner got them as late as the 1980s (because some of those fairground prizes hung about for decades), that would still mean someone gave them house room for 20 years. Perhaps those wonky eyes and malformed features brought back happy memories of a day at the funfair?