Let's write about my family's Saigon elephants

In my family, these ceramic elephants are heirlooms, because they represent our experiences living in the Philippines when the government of Saigon fell (in 1975).  In fact, and I was there, hundreds of these elephants came in on C-5 airplanes while the refugees were being evacuated.  My son found a rare pair of the elephants, sold by a seller near Annapolis, MD.  In the Navy's way of creating colloquialisms about anything impactful, the "white hats" named these elephants "buffies" because, when they were being hauled aboard U.S. ships to go home as souvenirs, they referred to them as those "big-ugly-fat-f*#$%!@ing elephants" 😃

My daughter in law found this article published in the March 18, 1972, by Joseph B. Treaster, in  The New York Times;

SAIGON, South Vietnam—When the American soldiers saw the ceramic elephants of South Vietnam, it was love at first sight.

Saigon elephants- rare to see a pair being sold by a seller near Annapolis MD.

The elephants were the dream souvenir. They were big and bulky and kind of exotic and, perhaps best of all, they looked like they'd have to cost a lot more than they actually did.

The soldiers, as well as diplomats, construction workers and journalists, sent the elephants home by the plane load and the folks at home cheered and cried for more.

The Vietnamese produced something like 30,000 elephants last year and nearly all of them ended up in the United States. About half of them were exported for resale and the others went home as gifts.

Market Hardly Tapped:  As the young, aggressive and foreign‐educated men in South Vietnam's Ministry of the Economy see it, the vast American market has scarcely been tapped.

They want to multiply elephant production and streamline the marketing system.

Since the elephants sell for only $10 to $15 (i.e., in 1972 dollars) at dockside in Saigon, they are not in themselves expected to greatly increase the country's import earnings.

But because they are so popular, the young economists regard the elephants as “leader items” in their campaign to promote such other more serious Vietnamese products as rubber, frozen shrimp and lumber.

The ceramic elephants of South Vietnam come in a variety of sizes and styles. But the ones that Americans seem to like best are 20 to 22 inches high, weigh about 64 pounds and have flat-topped howdahs. The more expensive ones are elaborately decorated with tasseled halters and skirts, but the plainer, cheaper ones are the biggest sellers with Americans.

Occasional Furniture:  The elephants are often used as casual seats and end tables. Some Americans have used two elephants as supports for El thick slab of glass to make an unusual coffee table. Others say they just like the looks of the elephants and don't use them for anything.

The elephants (in 1972) were available in Saigon stores for as little as $5. But in the United States they seldom sold for less than $40 and $50, and some of the more chic shops reportedly had them priced as high as $150 each.

Government officials estimate that there are about 50 elephant factories in South Vietnam. Many of them are family run and turned out no more than 200 to 300 elephants a month. (Maine Writer- I  cannot imagine the size of the kiln where these 64 pound elephants were fired with glaze😲❗)

So far, most of the factory owners have resisted Government efforts to bring them together in more efficient combines.

“The Vietnamese were not born to cooperate with each other in business,” said Buu Tho. the director of the Vietnamese Handicraft Center.

Mr. Tho says the manufacturers don't want to share their secret formulas for clay and paint mixes. He says they also are afraid that any kind of dealings with the Government may lead to more taxes.

The young economists think the main problem is the lack of a clear incentive.

“If we could reach some channel of distribution like Sears or some big department store like Macy's, if we had a guaranteed market,” said Le Dung Dan, the vice director of the Export Development Center, “we could organize the production facilities.”

Mr. Dan received a master's degree in fishery production from Tokyo University in 1965 and then worked for six years in his field in the United States. He said the Government was trying to get the elephants into the worldwide PX system.

“So far,” Mr. Dan continued in English, “we've been operating like amateurs In this business.”

Doubling Production: Bearing out Mr. Dan's reasoning, the manager of one of the largest elephant factories in the country said the other day that he thought he could double his production to about 2,000 elephants a month if he were shown a solid market.

Tran Thien An, director of the export development center, who has a master.s degree in retailing from New York University (1960 and worked in the executive training program at Macy's during the Christmas of 1963, said that some American G.I.'s had asked for a stylistic change in the elephants. Now, he said, instead of the traditional Vietnamese style in which the trunk hangs straight down, some elephants are being made with their trunks swinging upward.

“To the Americans I guess that means good luck or something,” Mr. An said in English. “It changes the appearance of the Vietnamese elephant a little.

“But,” he continued, “that's marketing.”

Cast marks left on a ceramic elephant are removed by Dinh Thi Kim as Ho Thanh Son, manager of the Thanh Le Factory, watches.