Q & A

W.C. of Truro, N.S. writes:

I have a Musical Violin Bottle/Decanter that is brown ceramic and approximately 10 3/4" high plus approx. 1 3/4" top cork topper. On the front is a label that reads "Beethoven's Fifth". There is a wind up mechanism located in the base that plays "Beethoven's Fifth". It is imprinted with the word "Japan" on the bottom. It was given to me about 30 years ago when I was a young boy by an elderly gentleman neighbour who told me he had got it when he was young.

I am very interested in finding out more about it and would greatly appreciate anything you can tell me.

We asked Kevin Colgan to respond:

This rather bizarre item is undoubtedly collected by someone, somewhere. There may well be conventions of such enthusiasts. If they want snow domes, impement seats and the unspeakable My Little Pony in its many and morphing variations, why not musical decanters modeled as violins?

Presumably this contains a fifth of a U.S. gallon hence the pun, (har,har) I would date it as being from the 1930’s although it could be a little later. It looks like porcelain rather than pottery. If it is it will be translucent. I can really see it in one of those basement rec-rooms of the 70’s perhaps alongside the nodding bird on a counterweight. Of the top of my head I would say a retail value of $100, but I looked it up on the E bay.

What a trove of the truly strange. There are about 70 examples ranging from leprechauns to Elvis from Eagles with heads that come off to drunken Scots hanging on to lamp-posts. This antiques business is a broad church indeed. None were of the same subject exactly, although there was a later example also called Beethoven's Fifth. It wasn't ceramic. I would recommend that the viewer watch the on line auction and eventually he will see one like his own.