*** Just a quick reminder that our first auction of 2008 will end Friday February 8. There are 100 quality lots of vintage sports memorabilia. if you have not yet viewed the auction or if you want to place your bids, just click the Auction button at the top of the screen.

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ANRI WOOD CARVED COLLEGE MASCOTS CATALOG

Our December 31 entry concerning the Carter-Hoffman & ANRI wood carved mascots brought us a number of emails concerning the differeneces between the two and how to tell the difference. The simpliest way to detect the difference is that it appears that all Carter-Hoffman statues are stamped with the company name somewhere on the bottom of each piece. For the most part, the ANRI pieces are unmarked. On occasion we have seen them stamped "Italy" on the bottom. Since they really do resemble one another, the only other thing that we can say, is that the ANRI pieces are generally slightly larger and not quite as detailed as the Carter-Hoffman mascots.

We were lucky enough to acquire a copy of an ANRI catalog. We're sorry about the quality of the scans, but we think you'll get the idea. The catalog is fascinating. The company not only made the traditional mascot statues, but also bottle stoppers, letter openers, book ends, pins and cigarette boxes- all incorporating the wooden statues. The price for the standard statues were $21 per dozen. Below are copies of 6 pages of the 15 page catalog. Enjoy!