A Collection of Olyphants

I love Elephants. 

This is my very 1st one. He is as old as me, 25 years old. He came from my Grandmother's store (she owned a specialty gift store back in the day) and resided in my crib. 

My two favorite animals have always been Pandas (my other childhood stuffed friend is a well loved Panda teddy) and Elephants.

As I've grown up I've especially come to love elephants. I own books on them. Ones full of National Geographic quality photos and ones full of information on them. They have such beautiful souls. They are deeply emotional and have long long memories. They function as a family unit, one that frankly our society could take a page or two out of and they will stand over the body of a deceased elephant for hours, even days mourning them.

 My love of them is closely tied to my Nana (my other grandmother) as she had an affinity for them as well.  She passed when I was only 8 but I recall even in the years after her passing finding little elephant statues here and there around my grand parent's home. When their estate was divided upon my grandfather's moving to a nursing home I was given the majority of her elephant collection.

It is a beautiful collection that includes her travels all over the world as the wife of a Naval Doctor- my grandfather. I cherish it. And recently I have started adding to the collection myself whenever I see a unique or pretty statue here or there and have expanded from just statues to include broaches, pendants, earrings, home decor.. really anything that represents my love for them in a unique way. 

Today I thought I'd share some of my little statues with you! 

From My Nana's Collection:

 This guy is my favorite. Probably because as a ceramic artist I really love/ appreciate the beautiful way the glaze blends on this and the crazing thats started to appear in it.

I call this tiny fellow Puca (poo-kah).

Can you see the baby elephant carved inside of the larger one's back! This is one of my favorites and such an intricate carving.

Some of My Additions:

Believe it or not, these are not the smallest ones in my collection! I actually have one that is even tinier than the smallest of these but didn't grab him to take a picture.