Male noses
The term male nose , which is colored in dialect, is understood to mean small carved wooden figures only a few centimeters in size, which were produced in the woodworking workshops in the Ore Mountains , especially around Seiffen . The “nose” in the term is intended to distinguish these figures from the simpler turned figures with a smooth face.
Collector's item
The "nose men" are very popular with collectors today and often fetch very high prices at stock exchanges and auctions. Similar to other wood products from the Ore Mountains, the collector can recognize the manufacturer's workshop by means of certain features, carving techniques, colors and stamps. One can even speak of a real “handwriting” of the individual carvers. There are already a few books that deal with this collecting area.
layout
Nose men and the simpler wooden figures, but also occasionally pewter figures, were used before the Second World War to design everyday scenes in showcases, to equip model railways and as children's toys for wealthy families. In the thirties, small figures in the zinc die-casting technique were added, which were produced in large series by the model railway manufacturers.
After the war, the wooden figures were quickly replaced by inexpensive plastic injection-molded figures. However, this mass-produced product does not have the charm of the small wooden figures.
See also
literature
- Manfred Bachmann: Wooden toys from the Ore Mountains . VEB Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1984
- Walter Neumann: Seiffen miniature toys . Saxon State Office for Folk Culture, Schneeberg (Ore Mountains), printing and publishing company Marienberg mbH, 1999, Weiss-Grün 16 series. ISBN 3-931770-19-2