Mary Morrison's German Snow Babies

New German Snow Babies

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I love this piece. I've never seen an old example, so when I had a chance to buy this one from a dealer (not on eBay) as a new piece, I got it. The pot is a candle holder. I do not know what company made this -- if indeed it is an old mold. Pay particular attention to the snow on this piece. The particles are both large and small, and there the color is pretty consistantly dark gray, unless you look with your 30 power microscope, where you can see lots of dirt, small sand and black pieces fired into the snow. I've seen many many of these on eBay and in shows recently (2011). The face paint is fired on, so if you have been practicing with a magnifier or better yet a 30x microscope, you will see that it looks like fired paint. This piece is 2.5" tall. When you see pieces that you think may be reproductions like this one, feel free to email me and ask. I am happy to help everybody recognize reproduction snow babies.

Left: Googlie snow babies are nothing new. But this googlie is new, although the face is nicely painted and fired. The salt & pepper snow is the first warning. Unlike all the other large googlies I've seen, this one is not a container.

I thought we were finished seeing this reproduction, then another showed up recently. The only early example I've seen of this piece is unsnowed and glazed. See it in Chapter 9 of my book alongside an example of this piece which is new.

This baby is the size of a Hertwig three-inch baby, but it is not old. First of all, these pieces were never manufacturered with porcelain skis. Here you can also get a good look at what I call salt & pepper snow. You will often (but not always) see this on new snow babies from Germany. Also notice the flat nose. Molding of old German snow babies was much better than this on pieces this large. You will see this baby on polar bears, as well. Don't be taken in.

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