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PA German Pow-Wow Medicine

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Animal Folk Art Objects116 of 254Weller Ware marked with  HTusk or Bone set in bullet casing
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    Posted 9 years ago

    hotairfan
    (385 items)

    Being a collector , like I am, and being of mostly of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, when I came across my grandmother's little door stop frog (shown in photo #2), I decided since I have sorry few items from my family, I would research this little item.
    I have a book written by a Professor of history at Kutztown University entitled "Sunbonnets and Shoofly Pies". While reading the book I was surprised to see my Grandmother's frog on one of the pages.
    It turns out that it isn't a door stop frog at all. It's a toad and was used by the PA German forefathers in their Pow-Wow medicine. the belief goes that the PA German farmers would place this little toad on the night stand, next to the bed in the hopes that it would make his wife pregnant. By doing so, he would have more useful help on the farm.
    The toads are usually about 5" long (although a few that I found are larger). They are made of a pewter type of material and I have only found them in Lehigh and Berks Counties PA. This is my collection.
    When I take them to shows, I always hand one to a young woman. Upon finding out what they were used for..... They swiftly hand it back and wipe their hand like there was something on it..... hotairfan

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    Comments

    1. racer4four racer4four, 9 years ago
      What a fascinating object and post. Thanks.
      I had a laugh at the end too!
    2. walksoftly walksoftly, 9 years ago
      Did it work well for your grandfather? :)
    3. Virginia.vintage Virginia.vintage, 9 years ago
      Love this post as well!
    4. hotairfan hotairfan, 9 years ago
      My grandfather did have 9 children walksoftly, so, maybe it did work
    5. walksoftly walksoftly, 9 years ago
      It's a wonder the women didn't throw them out after the fourth or fifth child! :)

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