07-03-2018 03:59 PM
This black metal candle holder measures abt. 21-1/2" long and 9-1/2" high from the center top to bottom. Looks like a pair of Cossacks, crossed swords, various crafts people, and other things. Need help with identifying what country this was made in and what all the figures mean.
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07-04-2018 07:43 AM - edited 07-04-2018 07:45 AM
I'd say it's a souvenir from somewhere in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge, in German). It has the pick and hammer, symbolizing mining, that appears on coats of arms in that area. (The Ore Mountains being literally that.) It has nutcrackers (not Cossacks) and a man carving wooden toys, both famous crafts in the Ore Mountains. I can't tell what the woman is doing, perhaps sitting at a loom of some sort...? There's an angel, perhaps representing the many Christkindl Markt traditions that originated in the region. There's a tree, of course, for the forests, in the lower left-hand corner. I can't tell what the thing in the lower right hand corner is.
07-03-2018 04:26 PM
if the sticker is the original pricetag it is german. the price is in deutchmarks which was the official currency until 2002.
07-04-2018 07:43 AM - edited 07-04-2018 07:45 AM
I'd say it's a souvenir from somewhere in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge, in German). It has the pick and hammer, symbolizing mining, that appears on coats of arms in that area. (The Ore Mountains being literally that.) It has nutcrackers (not Cossacks) and a man carving wooden toys, both famous crafts in the Ore Mountains. I can't tell what the woman is doing, perhaps sitting at a loom of some sort...? There's an angel, perhaps representing the many Christkindl Markt traditions that originated in the region. There's a tree, of course, for the forests, in the lower left-hand corner. I can't tell what the thing in the lower right hand corner is.
07-04-2018 07:47 AM
Thank you so much for your help. I think you nailed it. 🙂
07-04-2018 07:50 AM
Glad to help. Just to satisfy my curiosity, can you tell what that is in the lower right-hand corner? I just can't see it.
07-04-2018 08:07 AM - edited 07-04-2018 08:11 AM
This is said to be "Guild Symbol of Miners, Marienberg, Ore Mountains, Saxony":
And maybe what I called nutrcrackers are (as seen above and here) from the coat of arms of Marienberg (though they may well have inspired many a nutcracker, come to that):
07-04-2018 04:43 PM
07-05-2018 04:57 AM
Well, heck, sorry, I still don't know what he is. A miner? Woodsman with an exe? Lamplighter? I give up. Thanks for going to the trouble of letting me see him, though it was no help to you.
07-05-2018 06:39 AM
You were a tremendous help and I thank you for all the information you came up with.
07-05-2018 10:31 AM
I think the little figure on the right is probably a miner, with a pick, as guessed.