In 1967, Red Rose Tea began to give away miniature glazed pottery figures made by the Wade pottery company. The earliest giveaways took place only in Quebec, Canadathen in the 70s in Pittsburgh, and a few Pacific Northwest states. In 1983 the promotion moved into the entire United States.
I can't even remember what the tea tasted like as a kid (or if I even drank it) but I loved collecting the figurines. Red Rose is rather like Lipton, a tea designed more for iced tea than to drink hot.
The figurines have a practical use, they were used originally (before they became tea promotions) as match strikers this is why the base has ridges on it. The idea was to keep one near the stove or near your pipe so you could more easily light matches.
Like any collectable item the figurines have their own fanbase, obsessed with getting one of each or one from each set etc. They can get very expensive!
Perhaps Red Rose tea could come out with an unglazed series in Chinese mythological creatures... and introduce the older tradition of "tea pets" to the americas.
