Featured carved wood bear with brass pot - black forest ?

hi folks

bought this bear today, thought i had found him straight away here

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/427138345893085711/

but the link is dead

title says antique, but im not convinced

any thoughts or info appreciated thanks

 

Think you did find him there. What more did you want to know? That one's a souvenir of Switzerland in Black Forest style. Yours is something similar.

 

right you are, i didnt get the switzerland link from the name

thank you

 

In the first photo it sure looks like he has false teeth

 

ha, yeah, and also a bit like sloth from the goonies !!

 

They have been making these for a long time, and still are. Some are antique.
I never understood why Swiss carvings are so often called Black Forest, maybe it is the subject matter. But this is Swiss, as Bronwen said. I think yours could be 1930s, but I could be way off.
Maybe @Fid knows.

 

thanks aj

he certainly doesnt have the same charm as the old dark german black forest type ones

im presuming an ash tray ?

 

I don't know, there is no cigarette rest. For sweets on a shop counter? Maybe Fid knows, he is Swiss. I already tagged him.

You're right, Black Forest carvings are darker.

 

From your photo of the bottom, I would say that this one was once attached to a base, the way the Luzern specimen is. Would expect to find a lot of these would be souvenirs of Bern(e).

 

I have a small bear carving from Bern. In times past the bears just walked through the streets of Bern, hence the name of the town, and the town crest:

When I was there in the 60s they lived in a bear pit, which wasn't very bear-friendly. The bear park is a much better solution.

 

sounds like a cartoon town !!

 

But a very pretty one:

 

Same here, & I thought, How awful. But at the time, think zoo husbandry idea was that pits were an advance over cages.

 

And it was, of course.
Best is to let them have their freedom, in the wild.

 

This could be a whole other rant thread, how humans interact with other animals. Living in New Jersey, @gregsglass may have some thoughts on bears.

 

Hi,
Here in central Jersey at the shore we do not have bears, only BARES.
gregs

 

thanks inh

yeah the bowl is removable

they seem to vary widely in prices dont they !