Antique Victorian German Die Cut Easter Rabbit Scrap Lei Right

Please note that this is real, full size antique scrap, not a miniature.

Well, this one is NOT one of my finds! I was showing my grandfather a picture of the miniature Victorian book and he brought me down to his basement to show me these exquisite die cut scrap pictures!

My grandfather was a candy maker and he and used to make the most beautiful things out of candy like roses and hand-woven baskets - all of sparkling, colored candy. He also made something called Panorama Easter Eggs. If you've never seen one of these, it was an egg, made of sugar or chocolate that was hollow. A round hole was left in one end and covered with plastic or glass - if you looked inside the egg, you saw a beautiful scene that looked 3-D filled with pictures of flowers and children playing and all sorts of things!

My grandfather had bought these scrap pictures to use inside the panorama Easter eggs and just gave me the ones he still has. He wasn't sure exactly how old they were, but I think they are from before WWII started - he told me that after the war, these pictures became impossible to find because all of the factories had been bombed during WW II .

This is one of four pieces I have that make up one scrap. The sheet was cut in four when I got it from my grandfather. This sheet has the bunny wearing a lei on the right.

The scrap pictures themselves are absolutely exquisite and the detail in them is amazing. This lot is of three different Easter bunnies! But, very different Easter bunnies than you'd find now - these are a bit scary looking if you ask me!

The first bunny has a woven basket of brightly colored Easter eggs in front of him decorated with pretty flowers. He's wearing a matching lei of flowers too (I don't know about you, but this is the first rabbit I've ever seen in a lei - I wonder if he's a Hawaiian rabbit?) LOL!

The middle bunny is sitting in a pile of pink and blue and yellow eggs. He's wearing a golden bell tied on with a bright pink ribbon and he's got pretty yellow flowers behind him.

The last bunny is near some humongous Easter eggs - all pink and blue. He's got one tied with a fancy pink satin ribbon to a stick. Hmmm. He's carrying a branch of pussy willows too - looks to me as if he's going a-calling on a lady rabbit!

I believe Victorian women and children used to put these into their scrap albums. These are pretty enough to be framed if you're not an ephemera collector !

Whoops! Almost forgot three important pieces of information! The piece itself measures 6 5/8" wide and 4 5/8" high. Each individual piece is about 4 5/8" high by 2 1/4" wide at the bottom. The piece is not marked, but it matches the pieces I have marked with the initials PZB #1075 and stating "Printed in Germany".