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Family History Documents and Artefacts => FH Documents and Artefacts => Topic started by: Greensleeves on Tuesday 04 June 13 10:10 BST (UK)
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I wonder if anyone has any idea where this little chap might have come from and what he is? He was found on the beach at Felixstowe about forty years ago. He looks as though he's been carved from wood but actually it feels more like pottery, although he is quite lightweight. Anyone got any ideas? I really like him - he looks so happy.
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What a marvellous find, GS. You do seem to have a lovely collection of these intriguing wooden figures.
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Something similar here:-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-hand-carved-wood-monk-w-violin-figurine-/200908961692
.... although this one is descibed as wood.
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Pic from above link.
Moderator Comment: Image attachment removed for copyright reasons. Please refer to http://www.rootschat.com/forum/copyright.php A message has been sent to image owner (on ebay) for permission to post it.
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They certainly are very similar aren't they, Maggie. Fancy you finding that! I don't think mine is wood though. I can see that he might have been painted originally. I see that ad you posted refers to him as 'antique' but doesn't offer any other information.
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I noticed that.
I wonder how old he is? It's irritating that they say 'antique' without giving an idea on age.
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I know - ever since he was found on the beach we have puzzled as to his function: whether he is ornamental, or a chess piece, or part of the decoration from a church. And of course how he came to be in the sea. There is a lot of erosion along the Suffolk coast so of course he could have come from a drowned church, I suppose.
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Is he about 7" tall? The one at the link I posted is 12" tall.
There do seem to be quite a lot of monks playing the violin on the web. A lot are porcelain, some are of wood.
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What a lovely find, GS and as you say, a strange thing to discover on a beach. I notice that the one that is for sale has a spike on the cross bit at the bottom, so something is missing.
Here is another http://www.ebay.com/bhp/anri-monk?_trksid=p2047675.m2392 they seem to be Italian. Possibly washed up after a shipwreck?
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ANRI carvings, lots of information out there
similar characters under buddy sets on this site
http://www.anricarvings.com/
S_L
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Am I correct in thinking that what we are finding are all wooden monks? GS is pretty sure that hers is of lightweight pottery.
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Thanks for those links Jan and SL. One problem is that the little fellow isn't made of wood. He looks as though he is but he is made of some kind of light ceramic, I think, or resin or .... I don't know what. I must get a decent photo of the base and post it so you can see what I mean. It is almost like larva!
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Sincere apols for breaking a rule at #3 .......... must be all this sunshine :-\
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Maggie - you're a star. :) Hopefully we'll get a response from the seller (they're more likely to sell it if there's a picture of it on here too)
Trystan
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That's what I thought Trystan ........ thought I was doing him a favour ;D ;D ;D
GS - am I correct that he is around 7" in height?
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He is fractionally under 5" in height, Maggie.
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When you say the base looks like lava I take it that it as broken open bubbles showing. This usually means that the object as been cast, and in things like this it could be plaster or shellac and some other sort of resin. If it was plaster I would go with plaster being most likely as the resins are usually used to fake ivory. It could be bone, the end of the bone can become spongy to look at.
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How very interesting YT - thanks for that. It certainly looks like burst bubbles to me but there is a lot of wear on the base. I think if it had been plaster the sea would have finished it off since it was actually in the water when it was found. Any idea what sort of period they used shellac/resins for casting? It is quite light - as light as wood - but it certainly isn't wood.
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All the sites quoted say 'vintage' .... what is vintage ?? How old is 'vintage' ??
If GS's figure had been in the sea for any length of time, its suprising it isn't abraided by the action of being rolled around with sand and pebbles, so I suspect he wasn't in the sea at all or not for long. But then why would someone drop him on a beach at Felixstowe ?
He's a mystery !
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Natural resins, including shellac have been in use for a long time. [back to things like arrow and spear head making in prehistoric times,] There are more modern synthetic ones. If you mix synthetic resin with plaster it will be waterproof, not sure wether natural resins will have the same effect.
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All the sites quoted say 'vintage' .... what is vintage ?? How old is 'vintage' ??
Not old enough to be antique, antiques used to have to be 100+ years old to be antique. So vintage sounds better than saying "this old bit of junk" when it's up for sale
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Phew ! So I'm vintage and not antique as my kids sometimes suggest !!!!!!!!
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Running down to it ;D
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All the sites quoted say 'vintage'
But my link at post #2 desribes that one as 'antique' :)
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There was an Italian artist called Eugenio Zampighi 1859 to 1944, his paintings appealed a lot to tourists it seems. He did a painting of a monk playing the violin. I wonder if this steams from that. Searching for monks playing violin you can find similar on mugs and egg cups etc.
http://artsalesindex.artinfo.com/asi/lots/4558291
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What a nice painting, Sinann - wouldn't mind having him on my wall!
Regarding the discussions about my little monk being in the sea or not, I have just experimented with him, and he floats...... head down, bottom up!
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If he's not wood but made of some sort of resin, is he hollow ??
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Natural resins, such as shellac are often bulked out with the addition of sawdust or similar. If sawdust was used in this case then it would be likely to migrate to the top of the mould, ie; the base of the monk. This could account for the head sinking. It may be some other substance though.
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As far as I know he is not hollow. He looks as though he's carved out of wood. I am interested about the possibility of him being resin, YT. That would make sense as he is much too light to be pottery or stone or suchlike.
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Resin melts. Poke a red hot bar of steel into the base and see if it melts, if it doe's then it's a good chance it is resin. [failing the acquisition of a bar of steel try a good sized needle]
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Thanks for that YT - I'll try that later when I've got a candle burning and a needle at the ready. I will report back!
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Ouch! Please don't hurt the happy little fellow. :'(
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Poke a red hot bar of steel into the base and see if it melts..
That certainly worked on Edward II.
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Oh Mike :o
Dastardly Deeds at Berkley Castle. I remember my father telling me of that gruesome story - it's what got me interested in proper History other than what they taught you at school.
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Have now had a chance to try the red-hot needle on my little monk. Looks like he is made of resin as the base melts when the hot needle is applied.
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Being made of resin means he is probably of low monetary value but I am sure you will treasure him anyway.
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It would still be great to find his history, what a story that could make - what happened to cause him to be washed up on a Suffolk beach.
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Wonder how old he I - do we know that?
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If it is made from a synthetic resin then probably 20th century. If however it was made from a naturally occurring resin then it could be much older, and also could have a much higher monetary value, depending on who made it and when.
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So what's the test for synthetic resin?
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Have no idea but it probably involves ££££££s
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I think I will just have to accept that we will never know where he came from and how he ended up on the shoreline near Felixstowe Docks! But thanks for your input everyone. I have learnt that he is made of resin and that there are others about very similar to him.