by Cindy Michalak 

In the good old summertime! Time flies when you’re having fun, right? No fun for me right now trying to move my father in with us but he took care of me when I was young and now it’s my turn. He’s the one that got our family involved with Borzoi in the first place, so I definitely owe him for that choice and what better way to express your love for Borzoi than to model their beauty or loving nature in porcelain and ceramic. Here are the 7 choices for this issue.

Leaving off from the last column, I mentioned we would share a lovely porcelain figurine from the collection of Garnett Thompson. You can’t get much prettier than this, which was made by Karl Ens of Thuringia, Germany. They are a world renown hard paste porcelain factory that dates back to the late 1800s. Just what every woman deserves, a servant of her own; however, in this day and age, it should only be her partner that serves her every whim! I am not sure how tall this is, but judging from a similar piece I have seen in Joyce Brandin’s (Nightsong Borzoi) collection, I would guess it to be around 10˝ tall. This is a rare porcelain and could fetch $500 or more on auction.

An older ceramic, this lady looks like she may be giving her Borzoi an obedience lesson! Sitting close by her side is a nicely done Borzoi. The outline of the dog is pretty, along with a lovely head and correct ears and believe it or not, it was made in Japan, proving that not all of the Borzoi made in Japan have incorrect ears. It all boils down to the artist and what they see. This is another uncommon statue, measuring 7½˝ tall that I value it at $45.

You don’t see many Borzoi pieces coming from Spain, so I was quite pleased to add this to my collection. collection. It is a hard paste porcelain with a strange mark - SU AE OA within a box and only 2 letters per line. Then it has Hand Painted, which could account for the strange looking eyes; and then also Made in Spain. The Borzoi is good sized measuring 10¼˝ long x 5¼˝ tall. The detailing makes it look as if it were homemade but I believe it was a mold. However, the detail in the carving of the hair looks as if they may have done it by hand after it was molded. Rarer piece, on the homely side but I still value it at $75.

Now here is something that I hope nobody tries! A little boy riding on the back of a Borzoi? No wonder the poor dog is sitting down but you have to admit that it is very cute. This could be a testimony on if Borzoi really get along with children! All that cuteness packed into a small 3˝ tall hard paste porcelain. There is only a number etched into the dog but I believe this to be an older German piece. The paint has a lustreware look to it, that I would date back to the 1950s. It looks to be one piece, meaning I do not believe the little boy was added after the borzoi was made. Even though it is small, the value I place on this is $80.

If you thought the last one was cute, what do you think about this? An adorable little girl running alongside her Borzoi. Cute as a button, this little girl is keeping pace with her doggy. She almost has the look of the figures of kids made by Hummel. Measuring 3½˝ tall by 7˝ long, you can tell it was a 2-piece figure when first made and then after the firing, they were attached. However, I do believe they were purposely made to accommodate each other as one piece. It would be difficult to make this as one mold due to the fact that it would probably break and detach during firing. Although there is no mark to identify this, I believe it to be made in Japan because it resembles a few other Japan Borzoi that I have.

Fasold & Stauch, also guised as Wallendorf, is a German company that has made several Borzoi in the past. This 5¾˝ naked lady stands next to a Borzoi with a lovely arched neck and nice topline. It is a hard paste porcelain that I find kind of plain-looking. Even though the height of the Borzoi looks to be in proportion to the lady, the girl has something awkward-looking about her. This is just not an exciting statue to me for some reason but it still somehow found its way into my heart and cabinet. I value this around $75.

Remember our Centennial National? It was in the Fall 2004 issue that I told you about a pair of pillows I found but I hadn’t gotten around to telling you what else I found while everyone was off to dinner. Amazingly, this lovely soft paste porcelain was still sitting in a vendor’s booth and I snatched it up quickly. It is marked Gaylan ’80, the year it was made. I believe this is company is out of England. It measures 6˝ tall and while the thickness of the coat leads you to believe it has a lot of detail, it is more or less a smooth coat, not showing much in the way of hair detail like some you come across. In any event, I find this very pleasing to the eye with a beautiful overall outline and the fact that it has correct ears. Very uncommon to rare piece I value at $125.

Our thanks again go to Garnett Thompson of Sunburst Borzoi for sharing one of her Borzoi artifacts with us. You too can share your Unique Zoitique finds with Borzoi Connection by dropping me a line at borzoi@mc.net. We hope everyone has a grand summer filled with lots of winning, fun and happiness!§