Allach Porcelain #68- Painted Squirrel
In all the years of collecting Allach porcelain and handling the pieces, I have never had an example of the colored squirrel in my collection. Often you will see reference to production numbers in dealer ads for pieces noting how few were made or how many were made, but the process of manufacture in conjunction with having only two years of production numbers on many catalog items can be misleading. The main reason is the production is done in batches so where you see something that seems higher than others in production it can just be as simple as a run of that item at the tail end of 1938 or beginning of 39 and turn to inventory until demand depletes the pieces on hand, they may never be made again or more could have been made.
Another point that is relevant to this piece and many others actually is that while the porcelain is in my opinion the finest and the standards for production throughout the entire PMA lifespan beyond compare, it does change with the onset of war and for production increases. So a piece made in 1936 is going to be different from a piece made in 1937 or 1938. You may not see it but its there. Once the war begins, Allach like many other firms have issues with maintaining skilled labor like any other firm and yet still they manage to put out the finest material, but there are subtle differences. The most notable changes that some might notice if they handle enough pieces is the paint and it changes on a certain level and if you handle enough of it you can spot early paint against later paint.
Allach uses several different marks during manufacture and those vary depending on the piece and they are intermingled on others and you can see both in open market, but if you have an early piece in hand or take notes of an early piece with a certain mark, and then catch change in the process of manufacture at a later date using a different mark, you know when it was most probably made, where the production change was as they went into either increased production and wartime production and why there is a difference from one piece to the next.
Production figures for this little guy in color for 38/39 are about 120, but they are encountered far less than some other pieces showing lesser production and while I have found a couple over the years for others this is a first for me and the paint work is second to none. It is a blistering mint screaming colored squirrel and an early piece. No disappointments on this.
In all the years of collecting Allach porcelain and handling the pieces, I have never had an example of the colored squirrel in my collection. Often you will see reference to production numbers in dealer ads for pieces noting how few were made or how many were made, but the process of manufacture in conjunction with having only two years of production numbers on many catalog items can be misleading. The main reason is the production is done in batches so where you see something that seems higher than others in production it can just be as simple as a run of that item at the tail end of 1938 or beginning of 39 and turn to inventory until demand depletes the pieces on hand, they may never be made again or more could have been made.
Another point that is relevant to this piece and many others actually is that while the porcelain is in my opinion the finest and the standards for production throughout the entire PMA lifespan beyond compare, it does change with the onset of war and for production increases. So a piece made in 1936 is going to be different from a piece made in 1937 or 1938. You may not see it but its there. Once the war begins, Allach like many other firms have issues with maintaining skilled labor like any other firm and yet still they manage to put out the finest material, but there are subtle differences. The most notable changes that some might notice if they handle enough pieces is the paint and it changes on a certain level and if you handle enough of it you can spot early paint against later paint.
Allach uses several different marks during manufacture and those vary depending on the piece and they are intermingled on others and you can see both in open market, but if you have an early piece in hand or take notes of an early piece with a certain mark, and then catch change in the process of manufacture at a later date using a different mark, you know when it was most probably made, where the production change was as they went into either increased production and wartime production and why there is a difference from one piece to the next.
Production figures for this little guy in color for 38/39 are about 120, but they are encountered far less than some other pieces showing lesser production and while I have found a couple over the years for others this is a first for me and the paint work is second to none. It is a blistering mint screaming colored squirrel and an early piece. No disappointments on this.