March of the Tortoises.....

.....just a few out of a collection of 500!! 
Like the old girl at the back, looks like she's done it all before while a youngster in the third row is looking a little curious.

My dear MIL used to collect tortoises. I still remember her delight when we all added to her collection which lived throughout the family home. When my MIL and FIL were to move house, S wrapped them and numbered how many were in one package and put them into boxes, some boxes with 100 in them, others had 200 and then they moved house.

We were told they had all been sold......while in Masterton cleaning out the house, we were all saying 'at least the tortoises have been sold'......our hearts dropped when we discovered box after box of tortoises, all beautifully packaged lurking at the bottom of a cupboard. Surely not we thought but alas, all 500 were there. With no time to sort through them home they came, all 500 of them!!

All sizes with mixed expressions, families and loners all with their own little bit of character. Some brass, wood, glass, crystal, china, concrete and clay. There are salt and pepper shakers, candles, soap, ornaments - large, small and medium, all shades, painted and beautifully sculptured. Also some impostors were found - turtles!

Although a little daunted I can only smile, most of them are dated by the day she received them and with the initials of the person/s who gave them, my FIL supported her and added to her collection regularly.

What are we supposed to do with them.....some are being returned to the people who gave them, the rest are moving to a china cabinet in the office where they won't collect dust and hopefully we can pass them on to another home.

Thanks to E who spent most of yesterday helping me sort them, in a way it was like Christmas as we had no idea what each package held.

They will probably feature on blip again.....this is just one of my late MIL's collections....there's more to come......

Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals~Tortues (Tortoises) some music to plod along to, just a short one :)

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend :)