Rachel has inherited a dulcimer made by a local musician named Jim Fox, who has made many over the years and is still alive. One of my friends knows him and owns a few of these dulcimers himself. I may turn this into a bit of a research project.
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Rachel’s parents have a really cool limestone clock carved by Rachel’s great-grandfather. The timepiece is from a car of the era. Family lore says he used a hammer and screwdriver because it’s the only tools he had.
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New folks in the house
Rachel and I are too cheap to be collectors. One exception to this general rule is that we have amassed a collection of statues, typically of the gods. Gives the place a certain air, you understand. Lets visitors know what we’re about.
Recently I started looking for a sort of farmerish, gnomish figure to put on our mantle. Silly gnome statues are plentiful but we didn’t want any part of that mess. I was looking for something handmade, unique if possible, and not expensive (see “cheap” above). I found this guy and snapped him up.
I’m no expert so it’s possible this is manufactured and I was fooled into thinking it’s handmade. There’s no date on him but there is this mark on the bottom.
In the course of looking, I came across some other statues that were of the rural sort. Two pairs of farmers/peasants grabbed my attention. One was listed as being Bavarian. Since I have German ancestors and this pair was smiling, I decided to get them.
This couple is more clearly handmade and “Stolt 1960” is carved onto the bottom. In this case, though, I don’t think they’re unique; I was able to find a very similar couple listed online, same artist, but dated 1957. So maybe the person carved several of these figures over the years.
Here’s one of the new folks enjoying this morning’s sunshine.
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I’m developing an interest in folk art. I have a couple of pieces coming in the mail so I’ll share those when I get them. In the meantime, I’ve been doing a few searches and came across this wonderful video. Long live the weirdos!