Featured Wooden charity shop finds - Mouseman bookends and another item

Can anybody help me with a couple of charity shop finds I got today.
The first a pair of bookends which appear to be by Robert Mouseman Thompson carved from oak - are they the real deal or are these things faked?
The second is a . . . I don't have a clue but looks really old - with paisley style cut outs - I feel like I've seen the pattern before. My elderly father thinks it's Welsh and possibly Elizabethan. I'd just like to know what it's for and if it's really old or not.
Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

First item: not being familiar with this, I strictly searched for info on fakes, and found this article: https://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news...mouseman-furniture-maker-admits-making-fakes/ Hope yours are genuine!

Second item: guessing, wood crescent/paisley butter mold paddle.

 

Thanks so much for your response. I also googled fakes but didn't find anything. I didn't realise they were still going - I might try emailing them. I would say that mine look a lot older than 2009 but that could be part of the faking. Thanks also for the butter pat idea, I'll do some research along those lines.

 

The larger wood paddle looks like a biscuit mould, typically Northern European in style. I've had a few similar ones in the past that came from French markets.

 

I have no reason to believe your bookends are fakes. His family has continued the workshop, and work in the same style, but these look like they could be from the Mouseman's time, so first half of the 20th century. I love them.

Robert Thompson first carved a mouse on church furniture as a symbol of the church mouse. It became his signature mark, and he was called the Mouseman. Later on he didn't just carve mice on his woodwork, but also other animals like otters and beavers, etc.
Whenever I used to visit Yorkshire, I used to stay in a place in Helmsley that had a lot of Mouseman furniture and even a Mouseman fireplace surround. The local pub, The Feathers, which was 'our local' during our stays, also had Mouseman furniture. Helmsley is not far from Kilburn where Robert Thompson lived and worked.

 

Thanks, i'll look into that too.

 

Thanks so much for your comments, I love them too and I definitely would have thought them at least mid-twentieth century if not earlier. I was absolutely thrilled when I got them off the shelf at the store and saw the mice. I'd only seen the furniture on the Antiques Roadshow so didn't realise he did so many smaller items.

 

You are very lucky to have found them. Cherish them.

 

That article did include a few lines of a few items that were found in the fakers home.....I don't know how one would find out if yours might be one of a copy or not!!!

"He co-operated with the investigation and admitted making the items.
Investigation of the eBay account used showed that he had sold 70 fake items, including nut bowls, ashtrays, clocks, bookends and a nest of tables."

 

The thing is, those are all items the real company made quite a few of as well, so the fact that these are also bookends is no proof.

I think the obvious age, which a copy made in 2017 or a few years later wouldn't have.

 

I LOVE Mice, (NOT the LIVE kind, although they are cute!!) so it wouldn't matter much to ME!!

 

I've one fairly modern Mouseman thing, a cheese board. If yours are fake, their very very good.

I think that's a shortbread mould.

davey, did the family keep that?

 

I love the mice bookends! (One more thing for my bucket list!)
I'd never heard of Robert "Mouseman" Thompson before... I love antiquers, I learn something new almost every day.

 

You're right, and it's not like I paid a lot for them, so no concern either way, just curious. To be fair if the faker was good enough to produce for the company then it's all the same. That said, I do prefer things with some age rather than new copies.

 

Feel a bit like Sheldon but - is that sarcasm? I am aware that age does not necessarily equate to value. I just like old things. ☺

 

The mould thing is an oddity, it's the other side that looks used - ie: has many deep cut marks - I wondered if it was cheese/bread board. It's not all that big - the wider part is only 16cm by 8.5cm and the moulds (if that's what they are) are 4.5cm by 2cm - could be for sweetmeats though I guess?

 

Yes, me too! I never thought I would own anything by Mouseman, A - didn't think I'd find one in NZ and B - thought they'd be too expensive if I did.

 

Bonus points for the BB reference. I think he is being serious, large pieces fetch a lot of money.