VINTAGE JOSEF ORIGINALS CHRISTMAS ANGEL MUSICAL FIGURINE - TUNE AVE MARIA

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VINTAGE JOSEF ORIGINALS CHRISTMAS ANGEL MUSICAL FIGURINE - TUNE AVE MARIA:
$7.99

VINTAGE JOSEFORIGINALSChristmasANGEL MUSICAL FIGURINE

Vintage JosefOriginals Angel at Christmas time Musical Figurine. We believe the tune the music box plays is Ave Maria.

Angel is wearing ared dress with fir trim and holding a holiday

At the widest point, the figurine measures approximately4-1/2 in. in diameter. The angel isapproximately 5-1/2 in. high.

Given the age of the piece, the figurine is in goodcondition with no chips or cracks. Seephotographs for a few places where the pain rubbed off.

This is from a single person\'s collection of Joseph Originals. See our other Joseph Originals on sale.

From Collector’s Weekly:

At the beginning of World War II, an Arcadia, California, artist namedMuriel Joseph created Lucite costume jewelry under the business name Muriel ofCalifornia. Unfortunately, Lucite was needed for the war effort, mostly forwindshields in airplanes, forcing Joseph to search for a new material andproduct line. For a few years she made ceramic jewelry before seizing on theidea of ceramic figurines, which she produced with the help of her fiancée, TomGeorge, when he returned home from the war (like a lot of other vets, Georgecould not find a job, so he focused on his wife’s business instead). By 1946,Josef Originals was launched, complete with the misspelling of Muriel JosephGeorge’s maiden name, thanks to a printing error.

Figurines of adorable animals, angels, and children dominated her earlylines, as the small company, which was based in the couple’s home, focused onquality over quantity. By the mid-1950s, though, fake Josef Originals fromJapan started to appear in the United States. George countered by adding evenmore details to her pieces, but this just made them more expensive to produce.Finally, a businessman named George Good convinced the couple to fight firewith fire and begin manufacturing Josef originals in Japan. In 1959, they wentto the Katayama factory in Japan to personally train the workers there toensure that the quality of Josef Originals remained high. It did, which madethe 1960s and ’70s strong decades for the firm (George retired in 1981).

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