TEDDY BEARS FOR GROWNUPS

Figural Bear Ring, 18K 

Attributed to Gustav Manz, circa 1910 

 Photo courtesy Macklowe Gallery

Bear motif from undated Gustav Manz trade card

Private collection (image Gustav Manz LLC)

Not long ago, we dropped by Macklowe Gallery to try on a pair of grizzly bears loping in tandem around an 18K ring shank. Attributed to Gustav Manz, the carved figures step lightly over fallen branches with heads up as if in anticipation of some tasty treat around the bend. In winter of 1912, Manz registered copyright on a few of the bronze objets he would take to The National Arts Club sculpture exhibition that spring. They included a Barye-esque vignette of a bear grappling with a buffalo; a pair of fighting panthers (later Manz's daughter would donate these to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History), and polar bears adrift on an iceberg—no doubt in homage to Peary's arctic expedition. 

Knock on wood. Circa 1920s bronze door ornament carved and signed by Gustav Manz (second photo, beneath bear foot). From the brochure Unusual Jewelry Silverware and Bronzes, F. Walter Lawrence Inc. (Janet Zapata collection)

In contrast to the sculpture Manz's motifs for jewelry weren't all nature tooth and claw (unless paired with a natural predator—as in his popular panther and snake ring design). The bruins in many of his renderings appear perfectly congenial, their facial expressions almost trancelike, as if lured by strains of the Hesitation Waltz emanating from the Prince George ballroom on East 28th Street, just up the street from Manz's work studio. Built in 1904, the hotel's lounge was popular with notables like Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell, Stanford White's mistress Evelyn Nesbit, and Eugene O'Neill. 

Rudolf Eickemeyer studio photo of Gilded New York "It Girl" Evelyn Nesbit (Christie's). Below the black and white original, the colorized version for a 1902 postcard issued by the Alf Campbell Art Company captioned "Little Butterfly | Posed by Evelyn Nesbit

The Prince George Hotel Ball Room after its 2008 restoration
(Image Ephemeral New York)

Manz's Easy to imagine Manz's bear rings and scarf-pins (retailed at stores like Tiffany & Co, Marcus, T. Kirkpatrick & Co, and Black Starr & Gorham) catching the eye of un-hesitating gents on their way to do the Castle Walk and Grizzly Bear Rag* with their favorite Gibson Girl: "If they do that dance in heaven, shoot me, hon', tonight at seven."

*For a contemporary riff on Botsford's classic, check out this YouTube performance by guitar virtuoso
 Ton Van Bergeyk

Updated February 2021

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Copyright © 2011 All Rights Reserved 

GUSTAV MANZ LLC

DECO DRAGONS: Hot Item at Skinner's Fine Jewelry Sale

A rare figural platinum and diamond bracelet retailed by T. Kirkpatrick & Co., and stored in its original box was the capstone of Skinner's Fine Jewelry Sale this week. The unmarked piece (which Skinner's experts attributed to Gustav Manz) descended through a New York family in its original fitted case, stamped with the Kirkpatrick logo. 

Founder Thomas Kirkpatrick emigrated to the U.S. from Dumfries, Scotland in the 1850s. After a few years at Ball, Black & Co. (where he was known to sleep under the counter to protect the stock), Kirkpatrick opened his own store and art gallery and prospered during the Gilded Age. A crony of "Boss" Tweed (reporters dubbed the jeweler Tammany's "badge man") and Teddy Roosevelt (on whom Thomas bestowed a "lucky" penny blessed by Pope Leo and then set in gold), he passed on December 27, 1906. His elder son John Kirkpatrick took over the store at 334 Fifth, later moving it to No. 664. The firm also had an outpost at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. After the younger Kirkpatrick died in 1928, a third generation kept the business going until the 1980s.

Lot 764: Ruby-breathing dragons warm the wrist

Photo Skinner Inc.

Gouache rendering of a circa 1910 Griffin mounting from Gustav Manz's design book (family collection)

Photo (c) Gustav Manz LLC

Gothic dragons and other mythical creatures do abound in Manz's ledgers between 1910 and 1925, and T. Kirkpatrick & Co was a steady customer. Stockbook entries record sales of two "Griffin" ring mountings (sold May 12, 1910) and a gold ring trimmed with applied platinum acanthus leaves (sold Sept. 16, 1913); and a "Renaissance Ring" (sold Dec. 21, 1914). Later entries for the firm include a figural Mermaid and Faun Ring set with a star sapphire (sold Nov. 5, 1919). 

Even with one emerald eye missing, the lot fetched $171,825—six times the $20,000-$30,000 reserve—reflecting the dazzle of this early deco design and the skill of its maker.

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Copyright © 2014 All Rights Reserved 

GUSTAV MANZ LLC