Bathing Beauty of the Week

Ms. #527, who is naked as a jaybird, poses with her fine feathered friend by a gilt-edged powder dish.  Although unmarked, she certainly resembles half dolls by William Goebel featuring a beauty and her exotic bird.   Made of excellent china, this delightful dish is 4.5 inches high.

Bathing Beauty of the Week

Ms.  #526 gets her ass in gear, quite literally, as she prepares to journey to the sunny shore.   Of excellent china and nicely modeled and decorated, this unusual 5 inch tall figurine served as a souvenir, as painted in dark blue on the donkey's flank is "Blonville s/Mer."  Blonville sur Mer is a coastal town in the Normandy region of France, one of the many French seaside resorts long popular with tourists seeking sandy beaches and bright sunshine.

Bathing Beauty of the Week

 

 As dainty and delicate as the posies she is picking, Ms. #523 is an exceptional (and exceptionally scarce) bathing belle by William Goebel.  Her original blonde mohair wig in done in the typical Goebel beehive style, with the hank of mohair wrapped around the bald pate and kept in place by two tiny pins, pushed through a curl at each cheek.  The molded pink pumps with contrasting yellow trim are also a standard style for Goebel.  Of the finest bisque and workmanship, she is 4 inches and has no visible marks. 

A. W Fr. Kister, Continued

Last week, Ms. #521 was the Bathing Beauty of the Week.  I noted that she was marked in blue with "Germany" and the cross-hatched "S" of A.W. Fr. Kister, but that Porzellanmanufaktur Scheibe-Alsbach, the successor of Kister, still uses the cross-hatched "S" mark, stamped in blue, which could date the piece anywhere from 1905 into the 1990s.   Looking through my reference books, I came across a picture of a page from an early Kister catalogue, and there was Ms. #521 and her playful pup.

 

This lissome lass clad in a pale green swimsuit, with a matching hat and slippers,  is a sister of the preceding Kister.  Her complexion is matte bisque, while her bathing costume and towel are glazed china.  She is 4 inches tall and 3 inches high. 

Underneath, she carries the same blue cross-hatched "S" and "Germany," as well as an incised "18."

Here the same model appears on the Kister catalogue page.  Note that she was offered with either a towel base or as a free figurine.  Of course, a popular figurine might be produced by a factory for many years.

Ms. #532 also appears on the catalogue page.  She is does not carry the blue marks, but is incised underneath "L102," which matches the catalogue number.  She was also offered with either a base or as a free figurine.  This china charmer is 3.5 inches long.