Sculpture & Carvings For Your Home

Handmade Mask

What's the coolest antique/collectible you own?

Mine is a really old gas mask...
Handmade binoculars from WW2 and all of my designer hats from the 50s/60s/70s..
Ymmo the Heathen... Who's autographs?? Which one's are the oldest?

Connor Walsh.. What's the history of that gas mask.. It's fantastic

I have a set of beer steins that I inherited from my dad, who was a big collector of them.

The story that came from the owner of the shop he bought them from in the Southern Tier of Nrw York state in the early 1970s is that there once was four to the set - The largest and most ornate, which belonged to the lord of the estate, the lady's piece, and two pieces for children. The owner interrupted a break-in at the shop, and the set was one of the items being taken. During the escape, one of the childrens steins was broken. I have the three, and the lid to the fourth. I doubt that this story is true, and will never know, but it's kind of a cool story.

But what makes these important is that they may have belonged to the King of Germany at the time, who also held the title of Holy Roman Emperor. My father translated the German and did some other research that indicated these possibly belonged to Rudolph II.

Stoneware drinking vessels had been around for some time, but they were utility items, not the decorative collectors items we think of them as today. The common man would have owned a plain, and perhaps unglazed, baked mug with no lid. Only a wealthy man could afford the fine craftmanship of decorated pieces with hand-hammered lids.

The large one, or the King's stein, as my dad called it, is a heavy, substantial piece, and it is dated 1609, which was highly unusual. Now, that could be a date of commemoration of some 1609 event that was made much later, except that the materials and method of glazing are 100% period to that time. The lady's stein isn't as ornate, and the one child's stein is somewhat plain, but both have the original lids and design elements that indicate they are part of a family set.

I've been meaning to get these appraised for insurance purposes, but, as I have no plans to have them leave the family and I don't need the money, I've been sort of reluctant to find out that they weren't owned by the King of Germany. If they were, they could be worth a real fortune in an auction. If they weren't, they'd still be pretty special, being that well-preserved and 400 years old. I'd like to keep the dream alive for a bit longer, I guess.

[phpzon]Handmade Mask, 10, HomeGarden[/phpzon]