The Rarer and More Unusual smaller Chalet animal figurines
I thought a fitting companion piece to the last article I posted, “The Larger Coloured Chalet Animal Figurines,” would be this topic. It’s fun to see them all together and categorized this way. Not to mention the eye candy factor involved!
Not included in this article are the larger coloured and the pedestal Chalet animal figurines as they have been covered in articles that highlight them specifically. If you are interested, here are the links to those….
We do have a Chalet company catalogue/inventory sheet which features a very few of the smaller animal figurines:
Based on my experience, I am putting forward these figurines as the “The Top 10 Rarest":
The Chalet birds that have been found in 3-tone colour combinations:
The Riekes Crisa, Chalet’s largest American distributor, catalogs also feaure a multitude of clear crystal animal figurines of various sizes and styles:
The Chalet blowfish:
The Chalet doves:
There are 2 styles of dove featured on this Riekes Crisa catalog page. At present, I can only show one design – the dove at left.
This exceedingly rare figurine from the collection of 50 Shades member Jo Highland.
A bullicante Chalet rabbit:
This is the only just bullicante Chalet animal figurine of which I know. Most that are bullicante, like the “Buddha belly” owls and curled up cats are also avventurina. Troy Danby is an incredibly lucky collector!
The Chalet fox:
The detail and workmanship are amazing! He is now on my “wish list.”
The Chalet leaping dolphins. I am unaware of any collector having a verified Chalet dolphin figurine at present. However, I can show the Riekes Catalog listing for these pieces:
The Chalet snail is another that I do not think we have discovered. Once more, it can be shown through a cropping from the Riekes catalog.
A Chalet beaver on a branch;
This beaver is building a dam in Susan Mitchell’s pond.
Those uranium animals which we have found:
The photograph at right is taken under UV light. Unless there is a “firecracker” glow reaction, the piece does not contain uranium. A dull glow indicates other materials that also react to “black light.”
Photographs supplied by (top left to right): Troy Danby, Deborah Patterson, Cindy Bishop-Laughlin, and Ken Brewer. Bottom row (left to right): Jackie Lyn, unknown, Bradley Atkinson, and Malla Birns.
And, in my personal opinion, these are contenders for “The Top 5 Most Unusual.”
The Chalet horse. He is just so kicky. I call mine “Mick” because of his lips. I never mind dusting this guy. He stands just a hair over 7 inches. You will note that this figurine is shown in the catalog page shown earlier in the animal assortment #7139-69.
The Chalet deer/fawn figurines:
Done in both clear crystal and cranberry. The cranberry ones are a little more frequently seen. Do not let this picture lead you into thinking these are tiny little pieces. They are much larger than they appear in this photograph. From the collection of member Bob Burgess.
For scale:
Photograph - Sabrina Brunetti.
A Chalet “dimpled” elephant:
Note that this figurine retains its original distributor’s sticker - the rarely seen English-only N. C. Cameron & Sons Ltd. indicia. From the collection of member Kevin Hall.
Produced for Riekes Crisa, a Chalet “smoke” elephant.
From the collection of Deborah Patterson.
More rare figurines:
Any of the Chalet avventurina figurines:
Any of the Chalet avventurina with bullicante figurines:
The Chalet beaver. This figurine was dropped from production as it was difficult to make and was not considered appealing. Very few are in circulation.
Some of the Chalet clear crystal figurines:
From collections (top left to right) Gionny Gueli, Robert Hyndman. And at bottom left – Jo Highland and photograph of rooster from Bradley Atkinson at bottom right.
Standing 4 1/2 inches. My “Buddha belly” signed “Chalet Canada” owl:
He weighs almost 2lbs - a hefty little piece!
The Chalet “Buddha belly” 2-tone owls:
Figurine at right - Kevin Hall owner.
Chalet cranberry animal figurines:
Arched back cat – Melissa Patterson. Fantail songbird – Kevin Hall. Photograph of dolphin fish contributed by Cathy Antonysyn.
The Chalet goose in flight pose:
From collector Cathy Young.
Chalet “mini” animal figurines:
Mama cat and kitten:
Purring in the clowder of Melissa Patterson.
We have found several “split tail” minis in assorted 2-tone colour combinations.
The much smaller avventurina polar bear, centre, stands only 4” to tip of nose. Etched “Chalet Canada”. To date, the only avventurina mini of which we are aware.
The Chalet mountain goat and musk oxen figurines:
There is sometimes confusion on which is which. The mountain goat (left) has horns back and the musk ox (right) has horns front.
To date, we have found the mountain goat in only blue/green combinations.
From Kevin Hall.
The same for the musk ox.
Chalet opaline elephant and polar bear figurines:
They are incredibly sleek and slippery to the touch. I am very careful dusting.
The Chalet penguin:
Photograph of penguin at left courtesy of Cindy Bishop-Laughlin.
The Chalet poodle dogs. The style on the right, without the top-knot, is the rarest design of the two. Both shown in the Riekes Crisa catalogs. They have also been found with Chantili distributorship labels.
The Chalet crouching rabbits. 2 styles with the ears up pose being rarest:
Troy Danby keeps these well supplied with carrots.
Chalet animal figurines with silver inclusions:
This lighter inclusion was described to me by Chalet Maestro Bruno Panizzon as “silver sparkle”:
Heavier inclusions of silver foil flakes:
Pieces from the collections of (top left to right): Jonathon Tremblay, Pina Pina, and Candace Nestorowich
Solidly coloured Chalet animal figurines:
Photograph at top right contributed by Cathy Antonyshyn.
The Chalet songbird styles in clear crystal.
This single tail, retaining a generic country-of-origin label, from the collection of Melissa Patterson.
Photograph at left form collector Tracey Court. Top right contributed by Alex Wicks and from Marta Michalowski.
This style of 2-tone single tail:
Nesting in the collection of member Elizabeth Estes.
The Chalet “fantail” songbird pose:
Contributors: Marta Michalowski, Bradley Atkinson, Lise Legare Kowalchuk, Bradley Atkinson, Cindy Bishop-Laughlin, and Jo Highland.
The 2-toned Chalet whales:
The whale figurine is shown as one of the images on Chalet’s “Canadiana Wildlife” hang tag. The whales at top left and bottom right are from the collection of Troy Danby.
More of the unusual - these can also be considered rare or scarce.
The Chalet koala and panda bears done for Riekes Crisa. You will note that many of the animal figurines deemed unusaul were done for Riekes. In the words of Chalet artist, Gianfranco Guarnieri,”The Americans always wanted something different.”
I like to think my koala, Franco, was blown by Gianfranco.
And my panda by Chalet Maestro Giulio Gatto.
The panda shown here was blown by Chalet Maestro Giulio Gatto and can be seen here in this photograph that he and his wife, Danielle, took for 50 Shades 2022 anniversary celebrations.
The highly prized Chalet “ghost owls.”
The cranberry ghost owl is from the collection of Deanna Cejer, the blue/emerald-green at top left from Brenda Ross Coombs, The blue/olive belongs to Iam Marc Linder, the amber/green Pina Pina and the clear with the wisp of green Deborah Patterson.
Seen in this 1971 Chalet company promotion:
The coloured “pointed ear” owl figurine:
Photograph courtesy of David Dunkley.
The Chalet “scowling cat”:
These lastly, 2 tiny and strange little birds:
Scarce but not rare:
Single and split tail styles of songbirds
Wolf
Common: if one of these figurines is found in a rarer 2-tone colour, this does increase their scarcity. Rarer colouring has been found in the dolphin and angel fish figurines, elephants, and the polar bears
Buffle Head duck
Angel and dolphin fish
Clear owls
“Round head” owls in blue/emerald green
Owls
Chicks
Elephants
Polar bears
Squirrel
Many of the swan styles
Many of the geese styles
So, who’s up for a trip to the zoo?
