ANRI
"Yakkers" and
Less
Common Bottle Stoppers
Here are two examples of beautiful, old "Movable
Mouths" or "Yakkers," as they are sometimes called. Moving the lever
on their backs makes their mouths open and close. Another type has
the moving mouth and the additional movement of a rising neck. Painted
on the base of the one on the right is the word, Quebec. It's not
unusual to find the names of cities, or even stickers like, "Souvenir of
Eureka Springs, Ark." Retailers often added their own labels, and
it's probable that the ANRI company painted or labeled some for export.
These are carved in full figure, have moving mouths
and rising necks. The one on the far left is quite obviously not
as old as the other two, nor as well done, but it's still nice.
Press down on the levers on these two and their
mouths open and their eyes open and close,
as if blinking.
I love the musician stoppers like this drummer,
violinist and accordion player. The drummer and accordion player
aren't too old, probably from the 50's, but the violinist is a nice older
one.
The drummer has a lever which makes his arms
go up and down as though beating the drum.
The other two have string pulls which make
their heads move from side to side while their arms move.
Here are four more that move. The chef lifts
his spoon to taste his recipe, the man lifts a telephone receiver to his
ear, a scholar raises his glasses to his eyes as he lowers his head to
read, and the photographer raises a camera to his face. All of these
are manipulated by levers.
This conductor raises and lowers his signal
light by means of a lever, but Punch and Judy (center) and the toasting
couple work by string pull.
Do you know what the three most common ANRI
Stoppers are? I call them the Big Three and they're next, so keep
going.
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