American Black Wax Boy in Baseball Uniform by Mary McEwen

Live Auction

12" (30 cm.) With head tilted up and mouth open in a startled expression as though a fly-ball is coming his way, the boy is wearing flannel baseball uniform with blue felt "T", matching socks and cap, wax shoes. Generally excellent, hands are worn. Mary McEwen, circa 1920, according to oral history she had intended to make a complete boy's baseball team. Born in 1866, Mary France McEwen and her husband owned the McEwen Wax Works Factory in Milwaukee which made wax mannequins for store display and it was there that Mary learned her trade. Some time later, she moved to Seattle,and according to an article by Jenny Jones published in Doll News in Summer 1981, began to create miniature wax people using the same techniques employed in her husband's business. For about 20 years, she is said to have produced hundreds of these small dolls, each individually sculpted and each entirely made by her. Never marketed, the dolls were only later discovered in her estate. The rare dolls have distinctive and highly personalized expressions; notably each of the dolls is different. Each of the dolls has a thick pressed wax finish over paper mache form with rich gleaming brown complexion, large glass brown eyes, highly characterized expression, fleecy wig, padded cloth body over metal armature and wax hands.