Original Item: Only One Lot of 2 Available. These are lovely examples of novelty cork bottle stoppers modeled after Winston Churchill and Douglas MacArthur. The German company, Achatit Werkstätten, made these with Hans Schirmer, the founder, and Peter Ludwig, the sculptor/designer. Achatit Werkstätten was one of the major producers in the 1950s and 1960s of the wildly popular wine stoppers, wall masks, sculptures, and plaques that decorated so many modern homes of the era.
The material consisted of a combination of finely ground rock and wood pulp mixed with binders which were poured into plaster molds, then fired and cooled, they were then painted and/or gilded, and polished with agate stones. The word agate is “achat” in German, which is how both the material and the company got their trademarked names, ‘Achatit’.
These examples are in good condition but there is the expected chipping in the material due to age and use. The relief of Churchill was done well enough to be easily recognized and even has his trademark cigar while MacArthur retains his classic stoic appearance. There are very faint markings on the cork and we can partially make out “ACHATIT” and “GERMANY”.
Comes more than ready for further research and display.