$3,750
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sold
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Description
11" (28 cm.) Each has a bisque socket head with sculpted cap or
helmet over sculpted hair,glass inset googly eyes,painted brows
and lashes,button-shaped mouth,closed mouth with beaming
smile,composition and wooden ball-jointed body and is wearing
antique-style costume or uniform to enhance their depiction.
Condition: generally excellent,bodies are appropriately-styed but
are not original. Comments: Max Handwerck,circa 1916,from a
curious and rare series that combined the popular googly phenomena
of the era with the WWI historical events; his googly model was
issued with a variety of different bisque hats or helmets to
indicate the involved nations,in this case,the United States as
Uncle Sam (marked Dep Elite U.S. 1) with sculpted stars and
striped hat and brown hair; Germany (marked Dep Elite D. 1) with
sculpted green eagle helmet and sculpted light brown hair; Japan
(marked Dep Elite J 2/0) with sculpted cap and black hair; and
Turkish (marked Dep Elite O.T. 2/0) with curious double face (one
with red cap and black hair indicating Eastern allegiance,and one
with green brimmed cap and brown hair indicating Western
alliance). The series was likely never marketed in 1916 as the
combination of happy googly designs with war figures was really a
poor marketing decision. Not until the 1950s was a warehouse stock
of the heads located in Germany,never having been assembled with
bodies,nor distributed at the time of production.
Evidently,too,very few of the heads were ever made because they
are very rare. Value Points: rare googly models,seldom found as an
assembled set,including rare double-faced Turkish model.
$5000/7500-jointed body,antique costume including silk kimono.
Condition: generally excellent. Marks: Simon & Halbig Germany 1329
10. Comments: Simon and Halbig,circa 1895.