Rare Vintage Josef Originals ‘Missy’ Ceramic Figurine Black Eyes Antique

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Rare Vintage Josef Originals ‘Missy’ Ceramic Figurine Black Eyes Antique:
$195.00

Meet Missy,
who is one of the earliestJosef Originals

Vintage JosefOriginal

She is adorable and wearsa light blue dress with bright gold accents

Missy carries a gold rhinestone-encrustedfan and wears a matching bonnet also with gold details

She is inscribed \"JosefOriginals ©\" on the bottom along with another partial stamp indicating thesame

She has a 100% intact originalgold sticker that identifies her as Missy” on the side of her gown

Missy has most of her originalfoil \"Josef Originals California\" sticker on the back of her gown

There are no chips or repairs noted on this beautiful Josef Originalsfigurine. There are some normal crazingmarks on Missy which is a characteristic found on antiques (nothingdistracting from her beauty). She could usea cleaning, but she is left in as-is condition

She will be packed carefullyso that she arrives safely

Josef Originals was startedin 1945 when the artist behind these quality collectibles, Muriel JosephGeorge, decided to stop making her Lucite jewelry due to the higher cost ofproducing it as a result of WWII. In the beginning, Muriel and her husband, TomGeorge, were operating their new pottery business out of their garage andbasement in Arcadia, California.In 1959, Mr. Good convinced the Josephs that they could greatly reduceproduction costs by moving their operations to Japan. So, in 1960, their newfactory opened in Japan where Muriel spent some time training workers toproduce her ceramics to her specifications.Although Muriel had retired in 1981, she continued creating new designs until1985 when the company was sold to Southland Corporation.After the Josephs sold their share of the company to their partner in 1982, thecompany started producing figurines with brown eyes and did so until 1985 whenthe company was sold.

Regarding the black ovalstickers with gold or silver lettering - Those made in California havestickers indicating “Josef Originals, California”. \"California\" was later replacedwith a curly-cue when production began in Japan and a label with “Japan” inscript was added, which is typically found on the bottom.

The mostcollectible pieces are those made during Muriel’s ownership, particularly thosemade in California. Most collectors prefer the figurines with black eyes, whichwere made in both California and Japan.