One little jewel-eyed Owl...
Two little jewel-eyed Owls...
BIG God damn jewel-eyed Owl!
Here's another picture of that monster, because he's awesome!
The salt and pepper shaker owls were made in 1956 by the George Zoltan Lefton Company(Geo Z Lefton Co.) of Chicago. Lefton was one of many importers of cheap, but nifty Japanese ceramic and porcelain goods...other big names were Holt-Howard and Napco. Lefton stuff is pretty popular as of late, but these owls are by no means rare...Most of the ones I come across(with both eyes intact) are around the $20 range. I got these at a Goodwill in Kalamazoo for a buck 50 each. I don't understand why Goodwill insists on selling a set of salt and pepper shakers individually, but I don't really understand why Goodwill does a lot of things they do. Definitely NOT my favorite thrift store, but every now and again, you can still score cool stuff.
The Big(over 16" tall!) Owl we found in the basement of one of our favorite semi-local(because there is NOTHING in Coldwater) antique malls. He wasn't as cheap as the salt and pepper shakers, and it took several antique shopping trips before we finally said 'screw it, we NEED that'...but I'm glad we got it, because it's probably the most awesomest thing on the planet! It was made in 1967 by the Universal Statuary Corp, also of Chicago, Ill. Universal was started and run by brothers Jack and Leo Lucchesi(Wonder if they're related to Tina Luchessi, of Trashwomen fame?), who brought in artists from Italy and Guatemala to design all their statues, lamps, wall plaques, and whatnot. They are the source of all those ugly 70's Spanish explorer wall plaques and lamps you see at garage sales. Universal made a lot of VERY cool chalk ware tropic tiki-ish stuff in the 40's and 50's, and that stuff goes for relatively big bucks now days, or so my quick scan of Ebay tells me. They also made a pair of cats that I need.
Finally, speaking of owls, here's a poster I drew for a show my band's playing on Saturday(The Burning Hatreds).
