I’ve always admired these figa lighters when I’ve come across them in my searches for Austrian-made brass and bronze. The markings have always intrigued me: “Saks Fifth Avenue” in an elegant, hand-drawn script, and “Made in Austria” in the typical sans-serif of an Austrian mark. They do not come up often, and seem to be […]
It’s not often you stumble across an item that ends up being the missing piece in helping to identify hundreds of Auböck fakes out there on the market. Well, today I found that item, and without the original red cardboard box surrounding it, I still couldn’t be sure it was fake. This item just so […]
I’m not sure how exactly I began this long strange journey, but I know it all started with this green hedgehog. I have seen these on the market for years, but something about them always bothered me. I think I have finally been able to get some proof that not only are the fish ashtrays […]
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! […]
We’re not sure who started the rumor that this is a “Walter Bosse” fish ashtray. 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 […]
Very interesting video of fellow Mid Century Austrian artist Carl Auboeck’s (Aubock) patination process on his Optimist/Pessimist figures. You can watch the figures go from bright golden brass to the signature matte black color. Both Walter Bosse and Carl Auboeck were contemporaries working with brass/bronze in Vienna, Austria in the 1950s. This is the same […]
