Mel and I had a fantastic weekend picking. I started early by driving out to the bay area on Friday. If anyone else was on the road in the bay area I am sure you felt it was more like a parking lot! Anyways, my first stop was to see our friend Vince to pick up a fantastic Heywood Wakefield coffee table, model number M905G.
It needs to be refinished but I love it!
It has this fantastic long drawer that pulls out. It has that all important makers mark.
After I loaded this into my Mini I shot over to pick up another set of Carlo’s that our friend Stephen had. Stephen was the one who sold us the bullfighter Carlos.
I know what you are saying, these are not angular frames! But, these still have the Art Metalcraft Studios decals on the back so we couldn’t pass them up.
After the trip to the bay I wasn’t too anxious to get back in the car but that is what separates the true hunters from the rest. Mel and I hit all of our usual haunts and found soo many great things! Here is our haul!
Let me show you what were fortunate to find…
The first thing we did on Saturday was shoot on down to Modesto to pick up these two Heywood Wakefield coffee tables model number M794G. We got them for next to nothing but they need some work. The owner seemed really proud that he had painted one of them blue. Then he said he didn’t get a chance to paint the other one red……..WHAT?! I always cringe when I see that someone has painted something as awesome as HW.
They need a lot of work but that’s what I am here for.
This is an item I have wanted for the diner for some time. It is a 1950’s “Wise Owl Quizette” IQ tester and napkin holder. It needs some cleaning up and I need to see if I can find replacement IQ cards.
This is a fantastic WWII Bakelite book holder. Now that is cool just by its self but when you look closer you see these really cool military images from WWII, check it out!
Check out the soldiers and the vehicles! Sweet!
Here are battleships on the high seas.
Aircraft flying through the blue yonder!
This was the start of the Bakelite bonanza. We came across a few more really cool items, check em’ out:
I saw this on Craigslist and picked it up while we were out. This is a Zenith H664 record player and radio. It is a fantastic example of art deco styling, form meets function. I love it.
Next, Mel found this Magi-Call in a local antique store. I want to find another one so I can hook it up to the Zenith for a surround sound effect. I have to have Luis from Stereoadvisor work his magic.
We then came across this great radio bar. Mel and I saw this at Second Sunday a while back but never was able to speak to the owner. This was known as a Porto Baradio PB-520, The Porto Baradio was released in 1948. It was manufactured by the Stewart Warner company but sold by Porto Products of Chicago. The chassis number for the radio inside is 9008-B.
This is rare to find in ivory (I’m guessing plaskon).
The front, ivory dial facade is always warped in the corners.
There was a “companion” radio to this one called the Smokerette. It had spaces for pipes, a place to store tobacco and an ashtray. (Model SR-600). This unit did not come with the glassware but I will see if I can locate it somewhere.
Mel loved this mainly because the starbursts in the teal bottom section and I thought it would look great in the diner.
Haeger large gazelle figure. This may look very art deco but they were actually made in the 1990’s. I just couldn’t pass up the design of it. It really does compliment the other pieces in our room.
This is a Haeger wolf that we liked as well.
These are by far my favorite find. I have always been a fan of the golden era of Hollywood. I watch soo much TCM and have such an appreciation for the films they show. Anyways, these are made by Clay Art of San Francisco. I can not find any real information on them and I don’t even know how many stars they produced. I am still tracking down Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, and any others they may have made.
This is Clark Gable of course. It appears to be from “Gone With The Wind“.
Here is Marlon Brando from “The Wild One“.
Here is my favorite, John Wayne. I think it looks like him when he played in “The Searchers“. These faces are just fantastic!
Now comes the hard part. I have to clean a lot of the pieces and get them serviced if they have electronics. These will look great once they are positioned in our bedroom. It was nice to have a lot of good finds because there has been a dry spell lately.
Hepcats Haven 
I was wondering….. The Clay Art faces, what are they mounted on?
I worked in a gift shop in the mid-’90s and we sold lots of Clay Art pieces, but I’ve never seen these. How big are they? Are they like face masks?
They look smaller than their face masks that I’ve seen. And the face masks that I’ve seen were stand alone pieces that hung by ribbons from the back (like ear to ear – I have the Judy Garland one as Dorothy).
Clay Art primarily made functional art pieces like cookie jars (I have one that looks like Dizzy Gillespie playing saxophone though), and Salt and Pepper shakers of a jazz singer/sax player and another of jazz sax/trumpet player. I also have a couple of S&P shakers of Marilyn and I Love Lucy). Clay Art’s style was always very distinctive and down-right GOOD!
I continue to look for them at estate sales and the like. I’d be interested to hear if anyone else knows where to get some. It is too bad they no longer manufacture these little gems.
Thanks for showing all your finds!! I love that radio bar, the record player and the record holder! I love being a fly on the wall in your cool house! I’d never want to leave.
PS – Did you guys get to go to the TCM Film Festival? This was our 3rd year to go! You would LOVE it!!
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Hey Kelly,
Thanks for your comment. The Clay Art faces just hang on a cutout on the back. They are very similar to the masks you see in gift shops. The masks are about 12 inches tall. I have seen the Clay Art cookie jars and some of their other pieces. I am very satisfied with the detail and the likeness they were able to achieve. I am on the hunt for Bogart and Joan Crawford. I just acquired Marilyn, James Dean and Bette Davis. I have always wanted to go to the TCM film festival. I watch TCM almost 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I love TCM! Maybe one day we’ll get to go. Thanks for your comment!
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Are you still looking for Bogart and Crawford? I recently acquired both and would be willing to sell them. They are both Clay Art and in excellent condition. Joan’s face has crazing which is normal. I don’t know what date your reply is from. Please let me know if still looking.
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Hi Mike. We found them, but thanks anyway! We really appreciate you reaching out to us.
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Check out my store on Ebay…Clay Art Masks & More Store…or just type in Clay Art Stars line. I have the entire set listed. These are actually larger than the average Clay Art mask and the hanger is formed into the mask of the mask, more of a 3-D effect.
I have also owned every single mask ever created by Clay Art of San Fransisco and Cast of Thousands, (Claudia Cohen before becoming Clay Art.
Lynn….clayartguru
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Hi Lynn,
I actually reached out to you on eBay when you first posted them to see if you’d sell the masks I am looking for separately. At that time you wanted to see if you could sell the set. It’s been a number of months. Are you now willing to break the set up? 🙂
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The set has been broken up today and they are going fast!
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Thanks for the info, I’ll check it out. Thanks for visiting my site!
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There are a bunch of the golden era Clay Art masks listed on Ebay right now.
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Glad to see you score the cocktail you’d been looking for and a pair of end tables to boot! I could choke people who paint H/W. Hope fully there’s no fatal flaws under that crappy blue paint…
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I agree amodernline. It makes my skin crawl when people paint wood especially when its HW.
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Thanks for sharing all this wonderfulness !!
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Thanks soo much Laurianne!
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Does anyone know where I could find the cards for the Wise Owl Quizette machine?
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Hi David. You can find them on eBay. They might be repros though.
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Does anyone know where I could find the cards for the Wise Owl Quizette machine? I have looked on ebay and have not found them. I have found the cards for Madam X, but no quiz cards. Perhaps I am using the wrong search words. Any help would be great. THANKS!
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I recently obtain a Carlos of Hollywood horse painting from my Grand-father estate. Can anyone tell me anything about the artist.
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Everything we know about Carlo is on the Carlo of Hollywood tab of this site.
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Hi:
I collect and restore Wise Owl Quizette machines (manufactured by Mercury Steel Corp. of Detroit, Michigan from 1950-1952). I note you have displayed on your site a picture of one such machine with a rectangular front profile. The housing of this machine is fairly rare, so i am interested in acquiring it if it is available for sale. Please advise.
Regards,
Joel Benson
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HI Joel. Unfortunately, that sold.
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Thank you for your response. Since I sent my message to you regarding the Quizette dispenser, it came available on Ebay and I purchased it and have already restored it for my collection. The machine now in my collection and the machine you once had have the same serial number, so there is no doubt, the machine is the same. This is the only machine of this type that I have ever seen originating from Mercury Steel/Continental with the Quizette Wise Owl logo. It is beyond rare- it may be one of a kind.
Regards,
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That’s great. We sold it 2 years ago. I’m glad it ended up with a collector.
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Notice: It’s no recordholder. It’s a bookstand for 5 volumes about the battles in the past like WW1 and WW2. I could send you an image of my precious bakelit bookstand.
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Thanks. A pic would be great. shane@hepcatresto.com
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