I have been collecting the 1940-1950's fruit chalkware for about 15 years. What is chalkware? It is a plaster of paris material formed in molds, and painted by workers for inexpensive American decorating. There are many subjects and forms of this art. It was often a fair game prize, or a cute little item at the 5 and dime store.
I have been collecting them for about 15 years...I have not added to my collection for 3-4 years. I haven't seen any in good condition, and very few anyway.
The collection started when I saw a huge garage sale, and saw one of these fruit plaques. It was new, still in the gift box...never used. That started the search for these things. I get them here and there, sometimes I get one as a gift, sometimes I run across one at a thrift store.
I found this pear plaque at the Salvation Army in Moscow, Idaho, for $1.89. This is an amazing price for an item like this...BTW, in Oregon the price would have been much higher.
I have now completed the collection. There are about 30 fruit plaques decorating above my kitchen cabinets.
