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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

I’ve always wanted one of these puzzles and was SUPER excited when I finally found one! It’s definitely the epitome of mid century design.

This is the 1972 expanded resin version for Danese Milano and is stamped on the elephant. It even came with the original lid to the box! I definitely prefer this to the wood one because of its more durable nature and the pieces have a nice weight to them. Plus the resin makes a cool swirly pattern that you don’t get with the woodgrain. Definitely LOVE the fox and the camel shapes.

Lately I’ve really been obsessed with terrariums and wanted to try my hand at creating my own, but I was worried my “brown thumb” would get in the way. I decided to push on anyway and found an awesome mid century teak tripod base (originally went with a giant salad bowl) and went on the hunt for glass orb to fit. ShopGrounded was the only one that seems to have big glass orbs so I grabbed their 12″ one and it worked perfectly! For the cacti and succulents I tried some IKEA ones but I think I over watered most of them and only one survived. So I used SucculentsGalore on Etsy for some small guys and soil mixture and headed to Home Depot for the rest.

I then topped off everything with a layer of small river rocks and made some tiny mushrooms and a little house out of clay. I liked the look of an angular white object juxtaposed with all the organic growth so I bought a Gigaminx puzzle cube for the empty corner. Then my Amanda Visell Tic Toc Apocalypse Griffin and Gnome decided to move in…  VOILA! It keeps really well inside by the window and I water it every once in a while with an eyedropper. Is my “brown thumb” sprouting some green leaves?

I’ve been lusting over Carl Auboeck’s brass hand and foot paperweights ever since I found out about Viennese Brass. Finally, I couldn’t wait any longer so I decided to go on a hunt for them. The foot was purchased at Hagenauer Gallery (if you want ANYTHING they have it!) and the hand was purchased directly from Werkstaette Carl Auboeck.

Funny thing happened… when the hand arrived it came in an AWESOME wooden box with a percentage sign on it. So I emailed and asked if the boxes came with everything and if there were more designs. Turns out the boxes are old-stock and they have a bunch of different patterns and sizes sitting in the back. So I decided to grab a few! Check out the boxes below, along with art-postcards of Auboeck’s work and the little surprise keychain that came with!