Some People Collect Cows Trivia Quiz

Answer: Schleich

Schleich manufactures plastic animals as part of its Farm Life series, which includes cows, pigs, chickens and other farm animals. The company was founded in 1935 by Friedrich Schliech in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. It is one of Europe's largest toy manufacturers and a major international supplier of plastic animal figurines.

Bruder is best known for toy trucks. Hape specializes in wooden toys. Steiff manufactures stuffed toys, and has some stuffed cows in its inventory.

Answer: Westland Giftware

Westland Giftware was founded in 1972 and closed in 2017. They produced exact reproductions of the statues from the Cow Parade, including New York and Chicago. Although Westland is no longer making the Cow Parade statues, they remain a popular collectible on sites such as eBay.

Chronicle, which manufactured science fiction related collectibles, was a victim of the COVID recession. Lenox Group was a Minnesota based giftware company that went under in 2009. Applause made stuffed toys for the Smurfs, Disney and Muppets; despite that, the company went under in 2004.

Answer: Japan

The Tilso Japanese Import Company was founded in 1913 as a spinoff of L. Batlin and Son, a New York based antiques firm. The company was named after Tillie and Sonia, the wife and daughter of the owner. Tilso's heyday was in the years after World War II. Cows were among the many ceramic items sold by the company. It went out of business in the 1970s.

Answer: Enesco

Enesco is probably best known for its Precious Moments series, a collection of religious themed figurines designed by artist Sam Butcher. The "Mary's Moo Moo" series was started in 1994 and new figurines were being produced in 2020. Rhyner-Nadig was also responsible for the This Little Piggy, Mary's Henhouse, Mary Had A Little Lamb and Mary, Mary Had a Farm figurine series .

Enesco had its origins as a division of the N. Shure Company in 1958. It spun off as a separate company, and had its greatest success in the 1980s and 1990s, peaking in 1997. It had a spectacular collapse in 2006 and went into bankruptcy. The company had a major rebranding in 2007 and remained a leading supplier of ceramic figurines through 2020.

Demdaco is a Kansas based competitor of Enesco. Department 56 was a subsidiary of Lenox Group, out of Minneapolis. Transpac is based in Vacaville, California.

Answer: Plastic

Nylint cows are made out of hard plastic. The company started out making kitchen utensils in 1937, but switched to toys at the end of World War II. Throughout the years, they manufactured construction toys and realistic cars and trucks. Since the 1970s, steel trucks have been their main product.

However, one of their sidelines was plastic animal figurines, including Holstein cows. The cows came as an accessory to the farm trucks they made in the 1960s. The plastic cows were made in Hong Kong in the 1960 and 1970s.

Answer: blue

Porcelain from Delft is classically white and blue. The manufacture of pottery in the Netherlands dates to 1570, and Delft became a major center of pottery manufacture in the 1640s. The white tin glaze used by potters brought out the cobalt in the china, creating a blue tint.

Cows are incredibly popular in the Netherlands, and are the source for much art, including porcelain figurines and creamers.

Answer: Douglas

Douglas Cuddle Toys has been making stuffed animals since 1956. They design their toys in New Hampshire and manufacture them in Asia. They have a human number of animal toys, ranging from cats, dogs and bears to exotic things such as Yetis and flamingos.

Douglas has around 10 bovine related stuffed toys in their inventory, including Corinna and Betsy. They also have long horned steers, bulls and highland cows.

Gund is a Canadian based firm that has sheep, but no cows. Mary Meyer, a Vermont based company, has cows named Caleb, Constance and Lovey. Ty, the creator of Beanie Babies, has cows named Daisy and Mooosly.

Answer: Certified International

Certified International, a maker of ceramic dinnerware based in Pleasantville, New York, produced the International Farmhouse series. It was designed by Danhui Nai, a native of China who has worked in New York and California. Much of her work is based on nature, especially flowers.

Certified was founded in April 1942.

Answer: Whirley

Whirley Industries began making cow shaped plastic creamers in the 1967. Today the Warren, Pennsylvania company is named Whirley Drinkworks! The 1960s era plastic creamers now trade as collectibles on eBay.

Villeroy and Boch began in Lorraine, France in 1748, and is currently based in Germany. Much of their manufacturing took place in Luxembourg. While Otagiri Mercantile had its corporate headquarters in San Francisco, its manufacturing was done in Japan. Enesco bought out Otagiri in 1994. Goebel was founded in Germany in 1871, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers of porcelain figurines, most notably Hummels.

Answer: brown

Hummel 2324 shows a peasant boy sitting with a brown calf. It was released in 2011. Other works out that year depicted children with pigs, donkey and horses.

Hummels are a subdivision of Goebel, a ceramics manufacturer based in Rodental, Bavaria. The figurines were inspired by the art of nun Berta Hummel, who started in 1931. The drawings were turned into ceramic figures starting in 1935. Berta died in 1946, but her legacy lives on, and Hummels still remain a valuable collectible in the ceramics market.