This is one of my favorites. I got it
from corkscrew collector, Dean Walters.
The ball on the seal's nose is the corkscrew,
but attached to the head of the clown is not the usual cap lifter.
Instead, it's a can opener. This is only
the second can opener (church key) I've seen on an ANRI piece.
This is a test. Which of these is NOT an
ANRI?
Of course, it's the front/center one, a piece
made in France.
These Monks are corkscrews.
Men on benches, with or without cats, is another
ANRI theme. If you've looked at all the preceding pages you've seen
two of these characters before, but as different things. The reclining
man, shown in these photos as a corkscrew, is the cap lifter in a bar scene
I bought from Christie's. The cat is also in the Christie's set as
the corkscrew.
This set is the oldest among those pictured, and
was from the collection of my late friend, Bill Kneisel.
Bill had over 1500 items and was kind enough
to share some of his duplicates with me.
This one has a monkey atop the barrel, instead
of the more common cat.
And finally, the "Buddy" set, which is what we
call two figures on a single base. A Buddy set can vary in
a jillion ways. The two characters
may be similar, or the strangest combination you've ever seen. Many
buddy sets have two figures who look slightly tipsy, joined arm in arm,
and I've never been able to decide which is the one being helped home.
Maybe they're just two good friends out for a walk. The pair
on the left is, in my opinion, the more desirable.
Now, we will examine ANRI bar scenes, or dioramas.
These are more elaborate than the simple bar sets,
and every collection should have some!
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