-
Recent Posts
- Authenticating Your Walter Bosse Hedgehog Ashtrays: Curious Cases – Steel & Ferrous Metal
- How It Works – Lost Wax Casting for Walter Bosse
- Hertha Baller vs Herta Baller? Lets Clear Things Up…
- Authenticating Your Walter Bosse Hedgehog Ashtrays: Part 3 – All the Hedgehogs!
- Walter Bosse Figurines: “Baroque” Series
Recent Comments
- Modern Vienna Bronze on Authenticating Your Walter Bosse Hedgehog Ashtrays: Part 2 – Rare Models and Marks
- Nattan on Authenticating Your Walter Bosse Hedgehog Ashtrays: Part 2 – Rare Models and Marks
- Modern Vienna Bronze on Virtual Museum
- Edward Stanza on Virtual Museum
- Modern Vienna Bronze on Virtual Museum
Archives
- January 2020
- December 2019
- October 2019
- June 2019
- April 2019
- February 2018
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- April 2012
- January 2012
- October 2011
- August 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- March 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- June 2009
- March 2009
- January 2009
- October 2008
Categories
Meta
Tag Archives: authenticating
Common Walter Bosse Fakes – Striped Bell
The story of this bell has more of a happy ending than some of the other miss-attributions we’ve seen. Thanks to our friends Sal Robinson and Wayne Meadows for finding a copy of an original sales catalog from Richard Rohac’s workshop. We are now able to confirm this bell is made by Richard Rohac! If you are interested in learning about Bosse, Rohac, Hagenauer and more in the context of their corkscrew designs, go pick up their book “AUSTRIAN FIGURAL CORKSCREW DESIGN: AUBÖCK · BOSSE · HAGENAUER · ROHAC” (ISBN 978-0-9689294-1-4).
Check out the original catalog page below!
And there it is, #64 on page 55 of his catalog! These bells are often unmarked and we’re not sure why except that there isn’t a lot of flat surface are to put a mark on and you’d probably only get a partial mark out of it if you tried to stamp it.
A little background about Richard Rohac. He worked at Werkstätte Hagenauer for a period of time, refining his technique. In the 1950s/60s he branched out and started his own company (see the front of his original catalog below). His works are rendered in a more realistic style and are extremely finely cast and finished. He worked in brass in the Modern Viennese Bronze style with acid-etched black patina with polished gold highlights. They are often marked with two R’s (RR) with their backs facing each other. He also used a secondary mark “Made in Austria” stacked and set in a slight oval shape.
Posted in Bosse Blog
Tagged austrian brass, authenticating, authentication, black patina, fake, fish ashtray, vintage, Walter Bosse
Leave a comment
Common Walter Bosse Fakes – Fish Ashtray
We’re not sure who started the rumor that this big ol’ fish ashtray was by Walter Bosse. This guys is not as much a fake, but is more of an original by another artist working with blackening brass. They are most often found in Europe so we’re thinking they might be from another artist working in Austria around the same time. The style is definitely more realistic and heavily detailed, unlike Bosse’s work (Bosse mostly worked in a simple modernist style, with simple holes or dots for eyes). These fish ashtrays often seem to have a grey or greenish tint to the patina, which was the result of not sealing the patina properly or letting the object sit in the acid bath too long. These fish are never marked.
Don’t let all the listings out there fool you! This is NOT a Bosse. We’ve even seen these listed for $500 on 1stDibs as designed by “Walter Bosse for Hagenauer”. Bosse never worked for Hagenauer, they were competitors! Sellers often want to make the item their selling to seem the most valuable or rare so they’ll attach as many famous names to it as possible. These ashtrays are fairly common and would carry a value of around $40-$60 depending on condition.
Posted in Bosse Blog
Tagged austrian brass, authenticating, authentication, black patina, fake, fish ashtray, vintage, Walter Bosse
Leave a comment
Common Walter Bosse Fakes – England
Some of the most common Walter Bosse fakes out on the market right now are a collection of items from England. Almost always unmarked, the most common items are giraffes, horses, firehorses, dachshunds, donkeys, cats, gazelles, kangaroo, ducks, geese, and elephants. Sometime in the 1960s–’70s, a company in England started making copies of a few select Bosse models, and even went so far as to try and copyright them. We’ve seen a few marked items, and they are most often hand ashtrays and corkscrews. You can even find a patent number on the bottom of some of the items. After doing a bit of research on one of these patent numbers, we found it was associated with a generic casting company in England in the ’60s. They were most likely making these items on the side to make some extra money.
Is my item an authentic Walter Bosse or a copy from England?
Though some of the items are direct copies of Bosse’s work (like the firehorse, elephant, and donkey) many are not Bosse’s work at all. In the case of the firehorse, the English fakes just have the tips of the mane and tail polished, and not the whole mane or tail. These are also slightly smaller as they were most likely cast from a Bosse casting, not the original master. Similar to the Taxco fakes out there, these items were most likely imagined by an artist working for the casting company in the style of the items taken directly from Bosse. These English castings can be identified by their shiny black painted surface, which chips easily. They were not familiar with Bosse’s patina process, so they used black paint instead.
Any questions? Feel free to ask!
Check out all the fakes below:
- Fake Walter Bosse Dachshund from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Horse from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Dachshund Corkscrew from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Duck or Goose from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Cat from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Gazelle from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Firehorse from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Giraffe from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Dachshund Corkscrew from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Giraffe from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Dachshund from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Kangaroo from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Elephant from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Donkey from England
- Fake Walter Bosse Horse from England
Posted in Bosse Blog
Tagged authenticating, authentication, bosse, bottle opener, corkscrew, dachshund, duck, england, firehorse, giraffe, goose, horse, Walter Bosse
Leave a comment