Borman 1947 The Deputy

SIGNED AND DATED 1947 E. BORMAN CHALKWARE CARICATURE COWBOY - "THE DEPUTY" - THIRD FIGURE IN THE SERIES WITH LOTS 388 AND 389 This is the one that dates the whole group. A hand-painted chalkware - plaster - caricature figure of a bow-legged old western lawman, standing hands-down at his sides in a cream cowboy hat, red shirt with white buttons, cream suspenders, yellow sash or waistband, black gun belt with holstered revolver, cream trousers, and black boots, with a gold five-point star badge on his chest, a heavy black beard and mustache, a red bulb nose, and a wide-eyed startled expression under the brim. He stands on a round base painted green on top and cream around the skirt, incised on the front in hand lettering THE DEPUTY, and - most importantly - incised on the base top behind his boots with a copyright symbol, a date that appears to read 1947, and the signature E. BORMAN. It stands approximately 11.5 to 12 inches tall on a base approximately 4 to 4.5 inches in diameter. This is the third figure from this series in the sale: lot 388 is the signed E. BORMAN "THE SHERIFF," lot 389 is the unsigned "WESTWARD HO!" cowboy on a mule, and this one carries both the signature and the date. Anybody collecting these should be watching all three. Condition is honest and used: widespread paint loss and chipping around the base skirt with raw plaster showing, white paint chips and flaking along the gun belt and holster, rubbing and soil on the hat, trousers, and suspenders, and general dirt in the recesses. Sold as one figurine. Description Form - cast and hand-painted plaster, commonly called chalkware, modeled as a standing caricature western deputy or lawman with an oversized head, short bowed legs, and a stout body. Detail includes a soft wide-brimmed cream hat with a dished and creased crown, a full black beard and mustache with molded teeth showing, a red painted nose and cheeks, a red long-sleeved shirt with molded white buttons, cream shoulder suspenders crossing front and back, a yellow sash or waistband, a molded gold star badge pinned at the chest, a black tooled-look gun belt with a molded revolver in a holster at the right hip and a second small pistol grip at the left, cream trousers cuffed over black boots, and clenched molded hands at the sides. Base - round, approximately 4 to 4.5 inches in diameter, painted grass green over the top and around the upper edge with a cream skirt below, the front skirt incised in hand lettering and paint-filled, reading THE DEPUTY. Size - approximately 11.5 to 12 inches tall overall, hat brim approximately 3.25 to 3.5 inches across, base approximately 4 to 4.5 inches in diameter, per the tape-measure photographs. In the height frame the tape stands on the shelf beside the figure and is not hooked to it, and in the base and brim frames the tape lies across or in front of the piece rather than being hooked to its edge, so every figure given here is a close estimate only. Bidders should verify all dimensions from the photographs. Marks - incised into the green top of the base directly behind the boots, in hand lettering: a copyright symbol followed by a date that appears to read 1947, above the signature E. BORMAN. The date digits are worn and partly filled with old paint and soil, and while 1947 is the best reading from the photographs, the third digit is not perfectly crisp and no reading is guaranteed - bidders should judge the signature photographs for themselves. Incised on the front of the base skirt: THE DEPUTY. No factory name, country of origin, mold number, paper label, or importer mark is visible anywhere on the piece, so none is claimed. Photographed on a dark oak shelf against a white wall. Nothing else appears in these frames; the single figurine pictured is the entire lot. The Milwaukee tape measure is a photographic reference only and is NOT included. Attribution note Chalkware is the collector term for decorative figures cast in plaster of Paris and finished with hand-applied paint, a material used for generations in inexpensive statuary, carnival prizes, and mid-century novelty and character figures, as described in general chalkware collecting references. Because it is plaster rather than ceramic, chalkware is soft, porous, easily chipped, and never waterproof, and condition drives value on these pieces more than anything else. What makes this piece worth attention is that it is signed and dated on the casting itself. The base top carries an incised copyright symbol, an apparent date of 1947, and the signature E. BORMAN - worked into the mold, not applied later. Figures of this comic-western chalkware type signed E. Borman or E.J. Borman turn up regularly in the collector marketplace, where sellers commonly describe them as 1940s work; that dating has generally come from seller listings rather than any documented maker record, and the date incised on this particular figure is consistent with those claims but is offered as what the casting