[chipper67]

Hi,

I just bought this woodcarving at an auction today. I paid $2.00 for it and a box of other stuff (junk). It's about 9 - 10 inches tall. It is of a drunken man leaning against a sign post. The sign says "HALT". He is holding a beer mug and I think he has lost his left shoe (it might be in his right coat pocket. It has a darker brown stain all over the carving except the bottom which you can see the wood grain pattern. If I were to guess I believe it is basswood. I'm pretty sure it is a German carving. On the bottom it says W. u. M Heinzeller, Holzschnitzerei, 8103 Oberammergau, Dorfstr. 9 - Tel. 785. Does anyone know anything about this carving or carver (W. u. M Heinzeller)? I really like how the carver carved the fabric. It will be a great reference piece for me as I continue learning to carve.

Another question: Do you think the value of a carving significantly decreases if the carver has not actually signed and dated the piece? As in this piece, the carver had just placed a sticker with his name on it. In my opinion it probably does. I guess I do not understand why anyone would not want to sign and date their carvings, wether it be carved, inked or woodburned).

Thanks,

Chipper67

[Thomp]

i dont know anything bout the particular carving but it looks like a good one well worth what you lucked up and paid for it.

hope it wasent too big of box of usefull junk that came along with it to hawl off.

i once as a young man bought a heavy wooden crate type box for $5.00 at a auction i liked to have strained myself getting the treasure home, all the while thinking it could be gold, or some other worthwhile treasure, upon arrival dad helped me look at the wrenches, as i cought my breath, Dad started to cackle and almost died laughing as he went through them i had bought over 500 11/32 black iron double open ended mechanics hand wrenches still in factory packaging... heck of a buy if i would have needed them...
im 54 now and one of them wrenches pop up now and again, and the thought still makes me crenge, they don't fit nothing its not a standard size but they remain as a reminder not to buy a pig in a poke.

as to the carving im looking for a pattern or likeness of such a carving,
is it possible to get a full front and full side view of the carving, maybe i could use it for a starting place.

the carving reminds you of the old one verse song ruben ruben i been thinking what the heck you been drinking...........

[rick-in-seattle]

I am not too knowledgable on Germanic carvings. I prefer Swedish works, but yours is a nice carving.

I believe Oberammergau is located near the border of Germany and Austria.
In the area commonly known as Bavaria.

Oberammergau village has been famous for its woodcarvings and skilled carvers for over 500 years.

My best guess would place your carving around late 1945 to the mid 1950's.
I base my guestimate on the subject, clothing, and patina.

It's value is difficult to estimate since I have not seen this particular carving at auction; perhaps $75 - $275.

Here is the email address of the heinzellers.
heinzellercarvings@ogau.de

Here is their website.
http://www.heinzeller.com/

I am sure they can provide better information on your carving.
Most German businesses can speak in English, and that is good because my German is a little rusty.

[chipper67]

Rick,

Thankyou so much for responding. I hadn't heard anything for a few days and just figured no one knew anything about this carving. Thanks for the information. I will have to try and email the heinzellers to see if they have any information about this carving.

Thomp,

Yes. I will try and take some better pictures and send them to you. Hopefully, by tomorrow I can do that. As far as the auction where I bought the carving. The carving was sitting on a table amongst a lot of stuff. There were not too many people there and the auctioneer was just trying to get rid of stuff. So, he just started throwing stuff together. That's how I ended up with a box of junk. That's ok though. My mother is having a rummage sale coming up. I'll just give the stuff to her for it. You never know who will buy what? If not, Goodwill here I come.

John

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Someone on here said you had to be very careful buying carvings from over there (europe) as the majority are done on a duplicator? I have seen that one before somewhere, probably on ebay. ok, thats it, lol

[Thomp]

hopefully the rummage sale will be a hit and youll both get rich,

here localy they had to announce rummage sales starting at 9am becuse if you post them to open at 6am people arrive at 4am beating on your door to be the early birds, most early birds they usually buy the lot unseen for a set price and have all evidence hauled off an hour before you are scheduled to open, then you have to deal with late arrivals all day wearing the paint off yur front door with their knuckles...

but its a great way to get your trash hauled off.... haw!

[chipper67]

Just for your information. I had sent an email to the address Rick had suggested to try and find out more infromation about this carving and I received this response:

Dear John,
Sorry, we are not W.& M. Heinzeller, we are Hans & Adolf Heinzeller!
The carving is machine carved from maple-wood in Italy and than stained,
worth probably $ 60.--
Yours very faithfully
Johannes Heinzeller


I'm a bit confused with the response. Is the maple wood from Italy or was the whole carving done in Italy???? I guess I will assume that just the wood came from Italy. Also, I wonder when they say it was machined carved do you assume it was actually placed in a duplicator or maybe the carver just used some sort of a "Foredom" and power carved it. It doesn't matter I guess because the carver still had to clean it up somehow with hand tools and or sandpaper before staining it. Plus, the main thing is that I like it and I probably got a pretty good deal for only $2.00!!!!

Chipper67

[Kenny_S]

Well Chipper, Looks like by the reply, you got a deal. A $60 carving for 2 bucks plus other useful stuff.

Yes, dupilctor can carve a complete carving depending on the but they use/ Can be rough out or detailed. Anyways, what I read about dupilcators.

[Thomp]

if you download the center photo of the 3 pics in the original post and take that image and blow it up about 3 times look arounf the shirt collar and insiide the mouth you can see several swirls from a rotory tool, it looks as if it was made with a duplicator, a very small bit was used something like a flat bottomed 1/8"burr...

CNC routers could easily duplicate this carving in this quality but there is knife marks as well so it was cleaned up.
if you look at the finish, in the deep crevaces there is no finish it is dry looking, like it was sprayed or a cloth with finish on it was wiped on the carving. evident of someone in a hurry i think. but that could be determined ir interpreted in many ways...
i hope im wrong, and its a great treasure,
never the less i think its a great carving and if i had $60.00 floating around that wasent earmarked for peter or paul i myself would make you an offer....

its a fine example on how clothing fit and folds and that facial expression is carved i think he's singing "show me the way to go home......."

[photodog]

Chipper,
We just had a large antique show in Luckets, VA. Carving wise, mostly junk. However, I ended up coming home with an old etching/print of a Sister (Nun). Signed and dated '55, in an old frame.
Wife wanted to know why I bought it? Especially, with that ratty frame.
Simple. On some level it touched my soul & It gives me pleasure to look at it.
The picture was one of those things that for some reason, I kept comming back to. You know, just one of those few things that you know that if you don't bring it home, you will think about it the rest of your life and think, "I wish I had".
Enjoy your carving. Sounds like you now have a $50.00 story from a $2.00 investment and a neat carving to boot. Pretty good return on your investmetn. IMHO