Hi,
You may remember me as "Shameless Auction Promoter" a month or so ago. Having listened carefully to what you all had to say I have finally sent the set on consignment to the auction house running the auction held in conjunction with the CCI convention. That seems like the most efficient and rational course.
Were it not for this group I would not even known that I had such an option.
My subsequent researches appear to confirm my original ideas about the provenance of the set. The maps my father referenced, when describing how the set was made, were maps produced by Karl Wenschow. Wenschow's factory in Munich (where my father was stationed after WWII) had the kind of 3D pantograph equipment my father described, and the practice of using this kind of equipment to produce multiples, in miniature, is not uncommon.
An examination of the pieces, with the largest magnifying glass I could find, revealed places on two of the figures which, to my eye, look like the machine marks associated with a rotary cutter. If the figures had been "hand" carved I would expect to find many more crisp corners and edges (where two knife strokes meet) than I do.
I can well believe that this set was a failed experiment. The hand carvers of nearby Oberamergau would likely raise a hullaballoo were many of these to come to market undercutting their trade.
Again, many thanks to you all.
Eli
