DRESSED FLEAS

My Grandmother's Aunt, who used to live in Mexico, brought these dressed fleas back for my dad when he was a kid. He kept them for years and years. Later he showed them to me and I was fascinated by them. I would get into the sock drawer so often where he kept them he finally just gave them to me. My dad put them in the matchbox to protect them back when he was a kid. He wrote TOP on it so he wouldn't accidentally open the box upside down.

When the box is opened you can see my dad carefully encased the dressed fleas in toilet paper.

Seeing them blown up like this is the 1st time I've really been able to get a good look at them. The man flea's arms are made of something thinner than thread. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe a hair.

There's a man and a woman flea dressed in their respective garbs. This would probably look very nice on a wedding cake.
As a kid I thought some Mexican slid the flea's arms and legs into these miniature clothes, but now as an adult I realize the flea is just the head part of the figure. I do wonder about the Mexican who made this. This was created in the 1950s so I guess it's possible the creator is still alive. If not it's a pretty nifty legacy to leave behind. I also wonder how much the creator charged for a job like this. Also I wonder if this was the creator's main line of work and if it provided him with enough money to survive and possibly provide for a family. I wonder if this creator paid kids to catch fleas while he made the clothes, or if he had some special method for farming them. Maybe he had a dog and he intentionally let it get fleas and wouldn't bathe it.

It's also interesting to think about these 2 fleas I'm looking at and realize these fleas are from the 50s. They look about like modern day fleas I guess. I think modern fleas are less formal.