Wednesday, 8 May 2013
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| Victorian Die Cuts |
At Maison Dog we are stocking Original Victorian Die Cuts, specifically dogs of course!
Very desirable, yet very affordable.
A bit about the origin of these Victorian Scrapbooking images...
From the early 1800s publishers produced picture sheets that were uncoloured or, at extra cost, hand coloured and sold by stationers and booksellers.
The colourful reliefs, adored by the Victorians, were embossed and glossy. They are said to have been imported to Britain in the 1850s and soon became popular as decorative additions to Christmas cards and valentines. They were also used to illustrate historical as well as popular events of the time.
The immediate forerunner of the embossed scraps were sheets containing small chromos printed in a rectangular format to be cut out in exactly the same way as the first penny postage stamps.
In the Victorian home a fashionable pastime was to embellish the folding screens that the draughty living rooms required.
Production
Scraps, known as reliefs, chromos or die-cuts, were printed by chromolithography, stamped out and embossed.
After printing of the scrap the sheets were coated with a gelatine and gum layer which gave the finished sheets a glossy surface, embossing came next giving the scrap their three-dimensional look.
The final production process was to pass them through a punching / stamping press to cut away the unrequired areas of paper from the design leaving the individual images connected by small ladders, often bearing the name or initials of the maker.
The elaborate use of stamping can often be seen in uncut scrap sheets. Optimum use of space, required minimal cutting and lead to the intricate and ingenious design of the cutting die.
Sunday, 5 May 2013
I bought this Lovely Wind Up 1960's Japanese Jumping Dog
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| japanese wind-up jumping dog |
Tinplate was used in the manufacture of toys beginning in the mid-19th century. The toys were made from thin sheets of steel plated with tin, hence the name tinplate. They were a cheap and durable substitute for wooden toys. The toys were originally assembled and painted by hand. Spring activated tin toys originated in Germany in the 1850s. In the late 1880s offset lithography was used to print designs on tinplate. After the colorful designs were printed on the metal, they were formed by dies and assembled with small tabs. The lightweight of the toys allowed them to be shipped less expensively and easier than the heavier cast iron toys.
Germany was the major producer of tin toys in the world in the early 20th century. The most famous German manufacturer of tin toys was Ernst Paul Lehmann who is said to have exported 90% of his toys. France and England joined the fray and it wasn't long before hundreds of thousands of these tin toys were being manufactured.
Production of tin toys in the United States started earlier, but began in earnest when tin ore mines were opened in Illinois providing easily available and cheap raw materials. A number of manufactures scrambled to catch up in the beginning of the 20th century, but it wasn't until after World War I, with anti-German sentiment high, that they began to make real gains. There was a growing demand for American produced products and by the 1920s American firms had overtaken the competition. The largest and most successful firm from the 1920s to the 1960s was Louis Marx and Company. Marx produced a huge number of designs and depended on large sales volumes to keep prices down.
The production of tin toys was discontinued during World War II because of the need for raw materials in the war effort. After the war, tin toys were produced in large numbers in Japan. Under occupation and the Marshall Plan, manufacturers in Japan were granted the right to resume production. The idea was to give Japan all of the low profit; high labor manufacturing and the US companies could sell the imported product. It worked better than they had expected and Japan became a tin toy manufacturing force until the end of the 1950s. In the 1960s cheaper plastic and new government safety regulations ended the reign of tin toys. Presently, China has taken over the role of the leading tin toy manufacturing country. (source Wikipedia)
Saturday, 4 May 2013
I am posting here a picture of my Bonzo Soft Toy above.
Quite a few companies started making Bonzo Soft Toys after the success of the
Bonzo illustrations in Sketch Magazine, created by George Studdy.
Deans Ragbook, Chad Valley, Chiltern, Merrythought, and Steiff all made Bonzos.
One black ear, one white ear, a few black spots, a stub of a tail and big blue eyes are the distinguishing features of that laughing pudgy pup called Bonzo. In the early 1920's Bonzo reigned supreme. He was the envy of politicians, film stars, and beautiful women. His features beaming down from innumerable posters plastered across the world became an institution. He appeared in films and on the stage, and he was the sole subject for a series of art portfolios. He was also the inspiration behind the manufacture of a multitude of highly commercial merchandise such as toys - both cuddly and mechanical, ashtrays, pin-trays, trinket boxes, car mascots, jigsaw puzzles, books, calendars, sweets, and a profusion of postcards. Everyone, no matter what their age, adored the little dog with the crinkly face, golf-ball nose, and big feet.
Bonzo and the situations his creator George Studdy put him in made him into a kind of 'Everyman', a comforting 'man-in-the-street' symbol which denounced all forms of pomposity. He drank, gambled, and had a wicked eye for pretty women, but Bonzo was never violent, never spitefully unkind, and never repulsively offensive.
Looking back at the pre-1922 Studdy sketches of dogs it becomes clear that the original concept for a mischievous pup was born around 1911 - possibly earlier. The first dog which, as Studdy put it, "could run by itself" appeared in Pearson's Magazine. The drawing depicted a running hound with a wasp sitting on its tail and was captioned "When you are on a good thing - STICK TO IT!". It was also produced as a framed print, together with a companion picture titled "If you see a good thing - GO FOR IT!".
This unnamed dog continued to appear in various Studdy sketches, and gradually became a regular feature in The Sketch magazine. It was from this magazine that Bonzo finally sprang in 1922, and he never looked back.
By the mid 1920's booksellers, stationers, toy shops, and the big department stores were selling a huge variety of Bonzo products. A.V.N. Jones & Co. of London produced two series of jigsaw puzzles, (thirty-one puzzles in all) each having a different colour picture of Bonzo, and consisting of "100 pieces on the interlocking system in Satin Walnut"! When assembled, the picture measured 10 x 7 inches, and the cost was three shillings and sixpence (about 17½ pence today!). The same firm made a range of ashtrays and pin-trays in a brown semi-porcelain, with a gilt edge and a black transfer print of Bonzo in the center.
Motorists could decorate their cars with Bonzo mascots, made from either chrome or brass. One maker produced a wonderful mascot of him galloping like the wind. It was named 'The Telcote Pup' (after the manufacturer), was about 5 inches long, and sold for 3 Guineas in 1923. Confectionery manufacturers designed lollipops, jelly babies, chocolate bars, and sugar fondants in Bonzo shapes, and special Bonzo tins to sell them. A profusion of soft toys appeared in the toy shops for the very young, and pull-along tin toys for toddlers.
Chad Valley gained the rights in the early 1920's to begin producing a range of velveteen soft toy Bonzo dogs. They proved to be a very popular item, and many different varieties were produced - some quite simple and unjointed, others with jointed head & limbs. Some had stitched faces, others were moulded & more detailed. All of them had their facial expressions painted onto the velvet base. Each was finished off with a leather-effect collar with the company's celluloid button trademark on it, which gave the company's name and hometown and the name of the toy. The earliest Bonzos had a button with the name Bonzo on it & a metal edge surround, the later & more common buttons were just celluloid.
http://www.bonzo.me.uk/cv3.html
This is a Chiltern Bonzo, based upon the early Studdy Dog, similar in facial looks to my dog.
looks like my Bonzo here, with the red bow..
see link - http://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/magazine/issue28/iss28p4/
This Bonzo sold for close to £1000 in 2007 at Christies. It is very rare to find a Bonzo Dog with a swing tag.
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-rare-chad-valley-bonzo-dog-4944595-details.aspx?intObjectID=4944595
My Bonzo Perfume Bottles
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| black forest musical whip hook |
I finally added to my collection of Whip Hooks this Black Forest Musical Terrier Whiphook.
A late Victorian Piece. Very Beautiful. A dog! At last!
See my post below about Black Forest Whip Hooks
If you are interested in buying any of my Collection of Dog Antiques please contact me at
maisondoglondon@gmail.com
Website www.maisondog.co.uk coming soon
Also check out more of my collection on Pintrest -
http://pinterest.com/maisondog/coming-soon-at-maison-dog/
 http://www.maisondog.co.uk/#!paintings/ckkm |
| Bonzo - Studdy Dogs Portfolio |
Today I bought 51 Original Litho Prints Taken Directly from 'The Studdy Dogs' Books.
The Sketch published the first Studdy Dogs Portfolio in 1922 using images taken from the weekly issues of Bonzo in the Sketch Magazine. Over the next 3 years The Second Studdy Dogs Portfolio, The Bonzo Book (being the Third Studdy Dogs portfolio), Bonzo's Star Turns (being the Fourth Studdy Dogs Portfolio) the Fifth and Sixth Studdy Dogs Portfolios were all issued. Each set contained 15 prints except for the fifth and sixth which had just 8 and each portfolio had a specially drawn cover image. Recently a seventh portfolio has been found which also contains 8 prints. After Portfolio 4 there were apparently no announcements in The Sketch that a new set of prints was being issued so that until recently it was believed that there were just 6 portfolio's; could there be an eighth somewhere??
George Studdy was a prolific illustrator and contributed to dozens of magazines over the years. By far his biggest recognised contribution was to The Sketch magazine which was, ultimately, the source of Bonzo's name. The earliest recorded entry in The Sketch was 1906 with fairly regular contributions lasting for over 30 years.
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