Bathing Beauty of the Week

Ms. #545 shows that good things come ON small packages.  This sultry sultana is by Schafer and Vater, and the same harem lady was also produced sans box.  Of excellent china with sharp modeling, this beauty on a box is 4 inches tall and carries the Schafer sunburst mark stamped in black.  The undulating odalisque is of pink precolored china, as can be seen where the cold-painted gilt on her skirt has worn off, while the box was cast in white slip.

Bathing Beauty of the Week

Smiling sweetly from her shower, Ms. #542 must be washing off sand on the seaside, because she is a bathing suit with molded horizontal ribbing.  An unusual piece, the bathing belle is molded in pure white bisque, while her shower stall (which is open in the back to form a vase) is of green precolored bisque.  The modeling is sharp and detailed.  Just 3.75 inches tall, this bathing belle vase is incised "7742" underneath. 

Bathing Beauty of the Week

Peeking out shyly from her curtained wicker beach chair, this little bathing belle was a recent find at a local estate sale.  Across the top of the chair is a cursive  caption, "Houston, Tex."  She is part of a large and varied family of souvenir bathing beauties, charming little china trinkets made in Germany, and bearing the name of some city, often not one generally associated with sunny beaches or seaside frolics.  She is just three inches tall and is incised on the back "5483 Germany." 

Some more of the souvenir sorority.  These little ladies are generally well done for this type of novelty memento and they can be found in a colorful and wide variety.  Although they are authentic antique German bathing beauties, these souvenir bathers are surprising affordable.   A delightful and diverse collection could be formed just from these sweet souvenirs.

WARNING:  Mundial Company of Belgium is issuing copies of some of these little souvenir swimmers.  Look at HR228 and HR229 and the HR886-1B through HR933-3 under "Baigneuses."  HR228 and HR229 have crests for Barry Island and Yarmouth, rather than cursive captions.  The other series is a fantasy combination of angular ashtrays and various bathing belles, carrying printed captions for resorts in France and Italy.  As is typical for this company, the items do not carry any marks indicating that they are new items manufactured in Belgium.

Bathing Beauty of the Week

 

As Ms. #541 demonstrates, a man's, and a bathing beauty's, home is his or her castle.  I suspect she was once an aquarium ornament, with the openings in the castle to accommodate a curious fish, or a perhaps a bubbler.  Stamped underneath "Foreign 42" and of good china, she is 6.5 inches high.