Long read, but contains a lot worth knowing.
An indoor flea market opened up near my house and of course I scoured the shelves looking for anything of value to me, when all of a sudden I spotted a very curious little ceramic head poking out of one of the boxes. Intrigued, I pulled out the figurine and found an adorable little music box. It was dirty and worn, but still worked perfectly. The owner of the statue said that I could have her for $4. Unfortunately, I was completely broke at the time, but a few weeks later I had an extra $4 that I could spend on her.
That's where it got confusing -- I assumed she was some sort of Strawberry Shortcake knockoff because she has the same kind of short, curly hair, big hat, and striped socks. But to my surprise, when I turned her over, there was a logo of a character on a sticker underneath that looked a bit different than Strawberry Shortcake, as if this character had her own line of... somethings. The sticker with the logo is clearly original to the music box because it has the name of the song that the music box plays on it, "Younger Than Springtime," as well as the name of the company (World Wide Arts Inc), the location of the company, and "Made in Japan," along with a few manufacturer numbers.
I attempted searching for the music box on ebay and google by typing in the name of the song, the company... I even typed in "Strawberry Shortcake Music Box" in hopes I could find another. No luck, until I tried typing in the caption on another sticker on the front of the music box, "Keep a little springtime in your heart." That's when I found something VERY unusual.
This figurine is NOT a music box, but it is IDENTICAL to the one on the top of the music box, except for that the music box has a circular base with a few extra flowers around it. Unfortunately, there are no marks on the figurine version, and the seller does not list anything about the character in the description.
The last strange thing is that the character on the sticker on the bottom of the box bears a strikingly strong resembelance to the "Bonnie Bonnets" character on some Crown Devon plates from the 70s.
Any information at all would be appreciated!
I'Ded within the first day! Her name is Mopsie! Thanks so much ECPBlue!
