From time to time I get emails from other collectors about an item they have stored away that they know nothing about. Oftentimes, I can help out by pointing a collector in the right direction. Other times, I am just baffled. The items featured in this post has me baffled.
Shown above is a bronzed statue of the Brooklyn Dodgers mascot- "The Bum." It looks exactly like the 1940's-1950's version of the "Bum" that was sold as a squeak toy and manufactured by Rempel Enterprises out of Ohio. See an example of the plastic toy below.
As you can see, it's an exact replica. According to the owner it is about 7' tall, which corresponds with the height of the Rempel toy. It also has a flattened portion on the reverse that would have been where the air hole would be. The toy above is an early 1940's version of the toy and has it's air hole a little lower down its back than the latter 1950's versions. The owner also tells me it appears to be solid bronze, and not hollow.
Everything about this screams that it may be either a mold used to make the Rempel toy, or a cast made from the toy. On the other hand, it might be a plastic toy that was bronzed by a previous owner (like how folks use to bronze their infants first shoes). Although the weight described by the owner (she said it's about the weight of a bag of sugar) seems to point to it being solid.
I dunno. Like I indicated above, I am stumped. This is an item I've never seen before, or heard of. And, I'm hoping a reader might have more insight into this.
If you know more about it, or would like to contact the owner yourself feel free to do so. You can reach them at mskoskis at gmail.com. I know that the owner is also interested in selling it, so if you are interested I suggest writing to them. I would make a bid myself, but times are tough right now and memorabilia purchases are a "no go" for me right now.
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