Vintage Finger puppets..who do they represent?

[bob535]

Hello all, it's been a while since I have been here, my computer took a dive, and now I'm back in operation..lol

I have a few finger puppets, and I can not figure out who they represent, if they represent any people at all. They look like familliar characters, but that might just be my mind playing tricks on me...

[talesofthesevenseas]

Pull up the cloth skirts and see if there are any manufacturer's marks on the backs of the necks. These look familiar to me too, I think we had this kind of thing in the early 1960's although I am betting by the style of the one on the left that these are Asian and were intended for sale in Japan or elsewhere and not in the USA.  I would think these would date somewhere from 1940 through the early 1970's. The skirts look like replacements. Very cute!

[bob535]

Thanks tales  . I looked and there are no marks on them anywhere. I too think the skirts are not original.

[waywardangler]

They look like oriental comic characters to me from the same time frame as The Yellow Kid and Barney Google. Not sure if they are specific characters or just a general form. I would browse Hake's Americana and see if anything in those collectibles looks familiar.

[bob535]

I had never heard of that site before wayward. Thanks for sharing it is a really cool website.