Black Forest Carved Dog, ca. 1905
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GUEST:
This dog was purchased in Switzerland in 1907 by a great-great-aunt of mine. And when she passed on, she gave it to my mother and my mother then has passed it on to me. It is carved out of one piece of wood, and its name is Barry.
APPRAISER:
Oh, I'm glad he has a name.
GUEST:
And he is supposed to be a replica of the St. Bernard that used to take things to people that were trapped in the Alps.
APPRAISER:
She brought it all the way back from Europe in 1907?
GUEST:
Yes, uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
And she didn't think perhaps a smaller dog or another type of animal?
GUEST:
It evidently must have attracted her.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, I'm not surprised. It certainly caught my eye. And sometimes people call this type of carving Black Forest carvings.
GUEST:
Block Forest?
APPRAISER:
Black Forest, although they're actually from Switzerland and the Black Forest is in, technically, really more in Germany. That's what these types of carvings are called. Most of the time, you'll see things that are actually more with bears, or you've seen rabbits or other things, so a dog is a bit more unusual to see. One of the nice things about the carving, though, is that it's so lifelike. You've even got this nice fluffy tail, and you can see the whirls of the hair, almost expect it to shed.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And even to the point of the little pads on the feet, and that's a wonderful sign of the quality of the carving.
GUEST:
And the toenails also are another thing, yeah.
APPRAISER:
I know, that's just great. Little tiny toenails and the rope and also the glass eyes. A lot of the Black Forest carved animals will have glass eyes. These are actually quite collectible. At auction, I would expect it to fetch between about $3,000 and $5,000.
GUEST:
I appreciate it.
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