Remarkable Unusual Crown Lynn 'Vase' with Holes .... info wanted please!

Today these photos were sent to the site to try and find out about this unusual piece.
It is 6 inches high and cream coloured.  There is one in a photo in Val Monks book on page 64 on the middle shelf and this was taken in 1959. Has anyone seen one of these before?

What would the holes be for?  The only thing I can come up with is for it to be used as a candle holder and the holes would give the light a lovely ambience. Do you have any other ideas?

Photos with permission of the photographer ...

It looks like one of Dan Steenstra's specials. Maybe for potpourri?

I had always thought these pots with holes were either herb planters if small (sits on the windowsill with a small herb in each hole so you can use fresh) or as strawberry planters if larger, so the fruit hangs down and doesn't sit on soil. They also ripen better next to the warmth of the pot.

Mmmm at only 6 inches high, perhaps for herbs, but even then they would be squished. Have you seen these before ????????

I used to have one with a windmill on the side (not CL of course) that was 6" high, and they are ok for small herbs that grow upwards, but look great with little cacti. They are also called orchid pots, and the orchid is planted in the top I think, and the holes provide extra drainage for the plant. Here are some terracotta
http://www.readersdigest.co.nz/how-to-grow-orchids

Pure speculation of course, but my thoughts are a tulip vase?

I know the dutch versions differ considerably, in place of holes they have tube protruding from the vase but it was that combined with the other poster saying they'd had one with a windmill on that got me leaning that way.

Logical husband came up with the idea that it might be a bird feeder ..... ?

I agree with Mumof1 that it could be a strawberry planter. At least that is what I always thought when I saw the picture with the vase sitting on the shelf.

May be strawberry plants were smaller in the olden days before all the technology of making huge plants with big fruit came about.

It doesn't make sense to me to make a cream glazed pot for strawberries as the soil would soon discolour the glaze. We always used terrocotta clay for strawberry pots and never glazed them..... And they were big.

True, when you explain it like that.

There is an entry in Tam Mitchell's Modellers Log Book from July 1963 -

19th - Finish Model and Block of Crocus Vase for O/S [Owen Salisbury] 7"

So I googled Crocus Vase and this is what turned up ...

http://www.kennemerend.nl/crocus.html

Hold that thought as this is named A Wide Crocus Vase ...

https://www.newzealandpottery.net/gallery/Crown-Lynn-Shapes-01-881/300-to-399/399-Wide-Crocus-Vase-Mantle-Type-pic_149.htm

This is called a Crocus Flower Pot

https://www.newzealandpottery.net/gallery/Crown-Lynn-Shapes-01-881/400-to-499/401-Crocus-Flower-Pot-pic_7819.htm

So I might be barking up the wrong pottery tree?

Ah, but they are describing the flower petal pattern, not the pot, so I would say you are on the right track - well done!

Aha so there was one of these at the Papakura Museum pottery exhibition in 2010

One has been listed! http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=871643876 The craze lines on the base are very much in the same pattern as on your one Ev.