Left,
C1880 Bronze weight lifter inkwell 8
3/8 inches tall, 9 3/8 inches wide 7 1/2 inches deep, unmarked, believed to
be French I
got this weight lifter inkwell on eBay for $1,247.22 on June 8,
2005. The person that had it was in California. I'm in
California too, so I had to pay 8.750% CA Sales tax of $109.13.
The person happened to live within driving distance so I picked
it up in person to avoid the risk of damage in shipment. The
total came to $I,356.35. I
hated to spend that much, but I put a snipe bid of $1,277.77,
and figured if I ended up having to pay that, I'd be getting the
world's greatest weight lifter inkwell. As it happened, the under
bidder put a strong snipe bid too. I don't think I'll get any
arguments it's the mother of all weight lifter inkwells!
The
top of the two round weights on the ends of the dumbbell lift up
and hold the ink. The gentleman certainly has a look of
contemplation on his face. At the bottom this page is another
cool inkwell with a bowling motif. Check out those rats!
_____________________________
Right,
C1880 parian weightlifter 10 3/4 inches tall, probably English
I
got this parian statue at the Alameda Point Antiques Fair back
about a year ago (2004). I was surprised the guy was only asking
like $50 or something close, I forget the exact amount. The hand that holds the barbell is
broken, and there is some wire which looks ancient, that holds
the barbell in his hand. Speaking of the barbell, it's bronze
and very fine, is that cool or what?.
This is the first and only parian piece I've ever owned. I once
saw a 9 inch tall parian
boxer
statue that looked similar to this. Parian is a type of white
porcelain that, as I recall, was developed in England around the
1840's, then migrated over here to the U.S. shortly thereafter.
Speaking
of parian pieces, there
is a circa 1876 parian baseball player statue that Mark Rucker
had. It's one of the most exquisite baseball antiques on the
planet. It was offered with his
collection when it was auctioned ten years ago, in November
1995. The statue was pictured
in a collage on the cover
of the catalog. It was item
number 1 of the auction, with a $25,000
minimum. If I remember correctly it didn't sell, as I recall
Mark offered it to me later for $25,000.00. Which I couldn't
afford. I remember talking to Mark on the phone, and him
mentioning he was concerned about the possibility of it being
damaged if there was ever an earthquake. I think everybody that
collects porcelain has that in the back of there mind! I ran into Mark on eBay, maybe
a couple years ago,
and asked him by email if he still had it. He said he'd sold it. I wonder
where it is now. It
was sculpted by Isaac Broome in 1876, for the Etruria Pottery
company, which is referred to as Ott and Brewer in the
antique porcelain world. Etruria was owned by John Hart Brewer
and Joseph Ott. Broome produced a pair of huge 38 3/4 inch tall urns
in parian, each with three different statues of baseball
players. One of which is the statue Rucker had. Obviously Ott
and Brewer cast at least one example of Rucker's statue as a
stand alone work. The urns were displayed at the 1876 Centennial
in Philadelphia. They're almost surreal, they're so incredible! Today, the New Jersey
State Museum has one of the urns, and the Detroit Historical
museum has the other. Don't waste your time searching the entire
world for the most incredible baseball display pieces ever made.
Just stop by either these museums, and you've arrived! This is all another story for another
time, but I'll mention that, interestingly, the sculptor Broom was a
contemporary of, and may have known Karl Muller who did the
Muller Baseball Clock I wrote
about, as well as other baseball sculpture. I speculate
this, Based on the fact that, both Isaac Broome and Karl
Muller were both esteemed designers in the decorative porcelain
industry, which centered in the New York and New Jersey area in
the mid 19th century. We're talking some pretty early American
sports art history here! |