Garden figures can bring four figures
If you don't already have rabbits hopping around your garden, you might want to buy an antique garden rabbit to fool your friends.
The wealthy English and French of the 17th century liked formal gardens with paths, fences and planned flower beds. They put urns, statues, fountains, sundials, gates, furniture and odd pieces like finials and wall sculptures into their gardens.
In America, ornaments and furniture were being used in gardens by the 1600s. A brass sundial from 1630 is the earliest American garden piece that still exists. A wooden bench from the 1700s is the earliest known wooden piece.
In the 1930s, there was even more interest in cast-iron objects. Inside houses you could find cast-iron doorstops, bookends, planters, hardware and toys. And in today's gardens, life-size rabbits, squirrels, frogs and even alligators and tall birds are among the many iron guests.
Many of these figures were made years ago and have survived with just a little loss of paint. A vintage rabbit or squirrel can cost from $50 to $200 today. A full-size deer or dog sells for $500 to $2,000, and a three-tier iron fountain with a bird pedestal and leafy edges costs $3,000. Look in backyards when you go to a house sale. You might find a garden figure no one noticed.