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Tag Archives: vintage
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
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Patina Restoration Services
After years of collecting we’ve developed a process of restoration on vintage and antique Bosse, Hagenauer, Rohac and Aubock items. Using a non-damaging paint matched to the exact color of the original patina, we restore items by keeping as much of the original patina showing as possible. We can also polish original polishing points if you so choose. Finish can be matte or shiny but we try to match the original patina if there was any. The new patina is more fragile than the old patina so more care should be taken with newly restored items.
This is by no means the “official” restoration technique of Bosse but we feel it is the safest and most clean way to restore chipping, damaged or rubbed patina while still keeping the original character of the pieces!
Above is a restoration of a very rare original model of Bosse’s BO32 Geometric Bird. We polished the original polishing points and restored the chipped places of the patina while keeping the original patina around intact.
Above is a restoration of a very rare original Bosse Rooster that is previously unseen in any catalog or literature. We polished the original polishing points and restored the chipped places of the patina while keeping the original patina around intact. Because there is no reference image of this item in existence, the polishing points were approximated by the texture of the brass. Bosse’s original polishing points can be found by comparing the texture of the brass. Places that were originally polished were much smoother than the parts that originally had patina on them.
Above is a restoration of an original Hagenauer Dancing Bear figurine. Often, Hagenauer did not patina all his figures but this particular figure had remnants of an original black patina that showed signs of rubbing as well as original polishing points. We polished the original polishing points and restored the rubbed places of the patina while keeping the original patina on the base. Hagenauer items tended to have a bit of a shinier finish so a clear coat was applied for shine and protection.
Above is a restoration of an original Bosse Goat corkscrew. We polished the original polishing points and restored the chipped places of the patina while keeping the original patina around intact.
Posted in Bosse Blog
Tagged carl aubock, chipped, damaged, hagenauer, rena rosenthal, restore, restoring, richard rohac, vintage, Walter Bosse
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