Vintage Spotlight – Stripey Splatter Painting

Found this super cool oil painting with original wood frame at The Vintage Collective in Long Beach. Signed Rhyne ’74

Tags: abstract, framed, impasto, mod, modernist, oil, painting, stripes

Vintage Spotlight – Folk Art Carved Penguin

Another vintage find! This super cool carved modernist penguin with brass beak and feet made of pine soft pine. Reminded me quite a bit of Hagenauer’s carved pieces. Love the sectioning of the different pieces of wood.

Tags: bird, brass beak, carved, hagenauer, mid century, penguin, pine, statue, stylized, wood

Vintage Spotlight – Carved Folk Art Partridge

Found this cute lil mid century guy recently. Reminds me of the Partridge Family! He has oxidized legs and little feather on its head with carved eye. I originally thought the body was inlaid but it seems that it was artfully stained in sections.

Tags: brass wire legs, carved, inlaid, stylized

The Rare and Elusive Boxing Glove Squirrel Tailed Cactus

So my hubs and I were browsing Marukai (formerly super 98 cents Marukai) and found this totally kickin’ fake cactus. It totally had arm-like looking appendages ripe for decorating. So we brought him home, made some clay boxing gloves for him and stuffed a little brown squirrel tail for his backside.  Although it looks like he is outgrowing his planter enclosure as it’s cracking down one side. Hopefully I don’t have to re-plant him.

Tags: boxing, cactus, DIY, faux, planter, plastic plant, potted, rock garden, terrarium

Vintage Spotlight – Original Uten.Silo New In Box

Snagged this super cool original Uten.Silo at opening day of the LA Flea Market! I’d never seen one in person and this one was still in it’s original box with original mounting hardware. It wasn’t a very interesting box otherwise I would have taken a picture. Even the silver “Design M, Ingo Maurer” label, was still attached in the lower right corner. I’d never heard Ingo Maurer’s name associated with this before, only Vitra but apparently they were the original manufacturers.

It’s one of the most fun things do decorate with. I loaded it up with Walter Bosse and Auböck brass along with some Ikea paintbrushes, leftovers from the wedding and my Andy and Conan dolls.

Tags: aubock, carl auboeck, design M, ingo maurer, mid century modern, original label, space age, utensilo, vitra, wall hanging, walter bosse

Walter Bosse Hedgehog Dishes: How to Spot the Differences

I’ve been collecting Walter Bosse items for a few years and have decided to compile a guide. Here’s a list on spotting the differences between all the stacking hedgehog ashtrays out there. Remember, Bosse spent most of his later years fighting copyright cases for his items, mostly over this set of hedgehog trays. They were among his most prolifically stolen designs. As far as I know, Bosse only produced these trays in brass, never in aluminum/pewter or ceramic, though he did work with aluminum later in life.

First off, the only image out there I know of a real Walter Bosse set of hedgehog ashtrays is a picture of a Bosse catalog page from the book Walter Bosse: Leben Kunst und Hanwerk 1904 – 1979. Though it’s almost 100% in German, even if you can’t read German it is an amazing resource on Bosse’s work. Also, check out ModernViennaBronze.com for more history on Bosse.

REAL – In the catalog picture above, note the length of the nose and shape of the spines. They are all rounded and polished to a slight fade as opposed to a sharp polished line. This set seems to be most like the set of hedgehogs pictured below. In my experience, the quality of these trays is the highest out of all the hedgehog trays out there. This version’s nose seems to be shorter than the one in the picture and the slope of the trays seems to be shallower; I have seen similar sets of trays with a slightly longer nose and higher sloped trays. In my opinion, both long and short nosed sets of trays were probably made by Bosse but with different molds. Bosse’s work tends to differ greatly from mold to mold even within the same model as everything was handmade. The smallest hedgehog is less detailed in this set, with the legs just being a incised X on the bottom. They also come in an all polished brass version.

REAL – Also, the above hedgehog dishes seem to be more consistent Bosse’s later more “rough” and rounded works (less sharp angles and a more handmade look). He used a clear coat on most of the trays that tends to yellow a bit over time and become brittle but can be polished off. On the note of polishing: I am all for polishing brass areas of tarnished pieces as the play between light and dark for his so named Black Golden Line, was Bosse’s original intent for the pieces. I use Wright’s Brass Polish.

REAL – Second set of trays is the “sharper” version. This set is less consistent with the catalog pictures. It is slightly lower quality in my opinion (spines often come pre chipped and pitted from the factory) but still very much consistent with Bosse’s style of production. Note the sharpness of the polishing lines on the nose, ears and spines. There is very little fade between gold and black and the polishing on the nose does not continue on the underside. The shape of nose and spines are very sharp and not rounded. The smallest hedgehog is also much more detailed with more elongated legs. Also, the interior of the eyes are drilled out and polished inside, which was not done as often. Also, notice the slight dip in the underside of the nose of the dish, not straight like the first set.

This set also comes in a green oxidized patina, which either happened over time to the trays or was added at the time of production (not sure). In my opinion, this style could still have been produced by Bosse but possibly at an earlier time as it is more consistent with his earlier more sharply polished figures.

FAKE - Next come the Aluminum sets. From what I have read, this aluminum set was done as a promotional giveaway for an airline. They are marked on the bottom with some sort of “MB” mark which is apparently the mark of the airline that gave them away. Most people think the “MB” is “WB” intials for Walter Bosse… not true. I have never seen an original set of Bosse hedgehog trays with markings. If you see a set that is marked beware! They are also considerably lighter (being made of aluminum) with polished nose and spines and incised fur, eyes and ears. Still very cute but not produced by Bosse.

FAKE – Next up is another set of aluminum trays. These are usually marked “Greece”. These are the lowest quality I’ve seen, with some having large cracks or fragments from casting that were not ground off. A bronze colored patina was usually applied over the aluminum to give it a darker and less silver color. The aluminum makes them much more light weight than their brass/bronze counterparts. They look very similar to the other aluminum ones, having the same incised details and body shape, but there are usually no polished parts. As far as I know, these were made as souvenirs and often come with their original cardboard boxes.

NOT BOSSE – Next comes the ceramic stuff! These trays were manufactured in Italy by Este for Bonwit Teller, a New York Department store. They came in white and yellow, with the white version having a 6 set and 4 set version while the yellow only had a 4 set version. The trays often have paper labels and makers stamps on the bottoms. All bowls have raised dots for eyes and rounded spines but no ears. Not made by Bosse but very good quality. I don’t say these are fakes because they are different enough from Bosse’s original designs to be considered separate.

FAKE – Next is a set of 4 ceramic dishes. They are glazed with black and sprayed at the tips with gold and have painted red eyes and noes. As you can see from the photo, the craftsmanship in these is not top quality (with the red paint for the eyes and nose ending up on the cheek). The gold spraying is an interesting take on the original Bosses but is very inconsistent from dish to dish (some have a lot and some very little gold). They are made in Japan by “Our Own” and sometimes include a paper label. Not made by Bosse.

And that’s it! If I find any more trays I’ll make sure to update this entry. If you have any info I’ve left out or made an error please drop me a line! Thanks and hope this helps! Keep collecting!

Tags: aluminum, ash trays, bowls, brass, bronze, ceramic, counterfeit, differences, dishes, hagenauer, hedgehog ashtray, metal, pewter, polished, spot the fake, walter bosse

Vintage Spotlight – New Desky Bits

After going to PA and hanging out with our friends Eli and Amy we saw this super cool clock on their table. It is said, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (hopefully) so we bought one too! Funnily enough I had an Ebay saved search going for one of these already.  It’s a United brand clock lamp from the 1950s with starburst parchment lining the sides, metal pierced front and gold ball feet. The sides have two bulbs that light up with the flick of a switch in the back. Not sure who came first but Snider makes something called the “Bowtie” clock lamp that looks very similar. It’s great mood lighting for a nice bedtime read.

Also in the pic are some new friends:

To further my owl habit, welcome this carved oak Owl with stained top by Matt Pugh. Love the mid century styling!

Stylized German painted teak Osterhase or Easter Bunny. It looks like a very early Erzgebirge model.

Another German teak, this time a giraffe. Reminds me of other Bojesen pieces or possibly even Zoo Line stuff. Has little black painted eyes and a hemp tail.

Tags: bojesen, carved, carved wood, mid century modern, owl, snider bowtie clock, teak, zoo line

Vintage Spotlight – Sascha Brastoff Alaska Ceramics

A few original Brastoff ceramics from his Alaska series. The painting is so ahead of its time, it totally fits in with Fleet Street Scandal, Shag, Adam Cruz from House Industries and Sanjay Patel from Pixar. Even looks a little pinstripey and spray-paintey with the beautiful gradients. If the cool painting wasn’t enough, most of his items also have gold gilding throughout.

Brastoff seemed to be quite a prolific and interesting character and fellow Los Angelino! He was an aspiring film star and quite the socialite in the 50s. He is still relatively undiscovered as of late so you can get items pretty cheaply. I definitely see sky high prices in the near future as more people discover him!

Tiki Mug

Tiki Planter

Igloo Bud Vase

Tags: 50s, alaska series, igloo, mid century modern, painting, stylized, tiki