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Penthesilea:
--- Quote from: David In Indy on April 29, 2009, 10:24:36 pm ---I would too! That's so interesting how they were all smuggled out of former East Germany. That's a very interesting story and a fascinating piece of history.
--- End quote ---
I have a smuggling story for you. Not about the Meißner, but about a bronze statuette. Wait, let me take a pic....
Here it is. It's Joseph and Maria with the baby. The stand of the statue is marble, the statue itself is bronze and the white/yellowish parts are ivory. It's massive, very, very heavy, I have problems lifting it with one hand.
Once a year one of my parents drove to my paternal grandparents (in the former GDR). Every time they brought home one or a few new pieces of Meißner or art stuff, like this statue or an oil painting. Of course it was forbidden to bring such things out of the GDR. But they belonged rightfully to my family, so all the things were smuggled through the Iron Curtain. Otherwise, the government would have gotten everything after my grandperent's death. There were no other heirs.
My grandparents were poor people, but either a brother or cousin (I'm not sure which) of my grandfather had been an artist himself and an art collector (on a small scale of course). After the man's death my grandparents inherited some of his possessions.
Anyway, my father wanted to bring over this statue for the longest time, he loved it very much. But he didn't dare. Not all of the smuggling went unnoticed, sometimes things were found by the border officials. Then the pieces were seized and my parents had to pay a fine. The controls were very strict, you had to declare everything, every single piece you brought out of the country. Even if it was just some kitchen towels. The border officials took a look at the list, then demanded to be shown the things which seemed dubious to them. Furthermore they searched your luggare for undeclared goods. Those searches could be everything from superficial to meticulous and include personal searches.
As a rule of thumb, you mostly had to open every suitcase and bag, and the border official rummaged briefly through it, without taking every single piece out.
So, one year my mother decided to bring the statue. She didn't tell my father anything. While being in the GDR, she bought a small statue made of salt stone (I translated literally, I didn't find a translation for it; it's made from real salt mainly, plus some other chemicals). Those salt stones are fragile and dissolve in water.
She declared in her list "one statue", as a bait, and of course the border official wanted to see it. My mother made a big ado over the (salt) statue, she unwrapped it carefully and asked the official to handle it very, very carefully and told him a fantasy story why this statue was so precious to her. Of course the thingie was almost worthless and she was allowed to keep it.
The trick worked and my parents ended up woth two statues ;D. Years later I accidently broke the salt statue.
Kerry:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on April 30, 2009, 10:13:14 am ---Yes of course it's real Meißen, lol. When I say Meißen, I mean it.
Thousands? Are you kidding me? Or are the prices for Meißner down under that much higher? AFAIK, the prizes for single pieces and place covers (plate, cup and saucer as a set) are in the lower hundreds here (Euros). If you want to reach the dimension of thousands, you'd need to have a complete service. Or maybe a very, very rare and old special piece. And I doubt that one of mine belongs in that category.
So yes, if I sold everything, it would bring quite some bucks, that's right. But far (very, very far) from being enough to become rich. :laugh:
My-zen would be good. Actually the letter ß is an Es-Zet, somewhere between s and z.
--- End quote ---
Apologies, Chrissi. I didn't mean to imply that I doubted you. It was my fault. I hadn't at first clicked that what you were calling Meißen was what I call Meissen. I'm not a German speaker, so when I see a "ß" I pronounce it "bee" not "zee." I particularly love Meißen figurines. This little figurine, for example, is presently on eBay with a starting bid of US$850. It'll be interesting to see how much it goes for when the bidding takes off:
Penthesilea:
--- Quote from: Kerry on April 30, 2009, 11:56:28 am ---Apologies, Chrissi. I didn't mean to imply that I doubted you. It was my fault. I hadn't at first clicked that what you were calling Meißen was what I call Meissen. I'm not a German speaker, so when I see a "ß" I pronounce it "bee" not "zee."
--- End quote ---
No need to apologize Kerry! :-* I didn't take it that way. I assumed you just hadn't clicked.
And yes, the ß looks much like a B. From now on, you can pronounce it "zee". The things you learn on BetterMost, hunh? ;)
--- Quote ---I particularly love Meißen figurines. This little figurine, for example, is presently on eBay with a starting bid of US$850. It'll be interesting to see how much it goes for when the bidding takes off:
--- End quote ---
The prices for Meißner vary, depending on how old and how rare the pieces are. Just like with all collectibles I guess. In the end, the Blue Mauritius is just a stamp - or is it? ;)
But it may well be that prices for Meißner are higher in those parts of the world which are far away from Germany. Fewer supply, higher prices.
Maybe I could really make a (very) small fortune if I shipped all the stuff to Australia and auctioned it there, who knows? ;D
David In Indy:
Chrissi, your china is beautiful. All of it. Thank you so much for taking the time to photograph it for us. :-*
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on April 30, 2009, 11:54:35 am ---
--- End quote ---
I particularly loved the story behind this statue. The statue is very beautiful. I have a huge fond spot for the Holy Family. But the hardships people faced - just to bring along a possession as simple as a statue- during the years of East and West Germany both appall me and warm my heart. I'm so glad your Mother managed to get it out of there and bring it with her. And now you have it. It's a beautiful statue and a wonderful story! :)
optom3:
I have had a lovely time reading through this thread. It made me think of all the things that remind me of my parents. I have no recollection of grandparents I was very young when they died.
I realise that I am turning into my mother. She has a lovely collection of stunning porcelain, Lladro,crown derby and many more. Yet she keeps the Pendelphin rabbits we got her when we were young in the same display cabinet.
I do the same, I have lots of Halcyon Days boxes, Crown Derby and Lladro, all side by side with the, cars, money boxes plates etc, that the kids painted for me when they were younger at places like splatters.
I can see now that if I outlast my mum, it will be her rabbit collection I want. I remember each one of them. My father, well I suspect my brother and I will both want his collection of classical records and the turntable to play them on.
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