From time to time, when perusing any price lists, brochures or catalogs issued by Cybis, one is apt to come across the Collection category of Commemorative. What exactly were those, and what was their inspiration?
The studio used the word ‘commemorative’ somewhat loosely, but the vast majority of them were standard retail editions. They were not artist proofs, nor OOAK (one of a kind) except as noted in the final section of this post. Basically, a Commemorative Edition was a design that had a specific connection to something else – but the ‘something else’ could encompass pretty much anything! Let’s look at what they were, and what they were meant to represent/commemorate/connect to.
Although released in 1967, Columbia (an edition of 200) was not designated on their price lists as a Commemorative until 1970. Each sculpture’s purpose is to commemorate one of 200 specific events in American history. The numbering is unique in that instead of being numbered from 1 to 200, the sculpture number corresponds to the year of the event being commemorated on the brass plaque attached to the wood base. A list of known events is part of Columbia’s description in the Born in the USA post.
Conductor’s Hands ‘The Maestro’, an edition of 250, was introduced in 1967 to commemorate what would have been Arturo Toscanini’s one hundredth birthday in March of that year (he died in January 1957.) This, too, was not designated as a Commemorative on any Cybis price list before 1970.
Tranquility Base ‘Apollo 11 Moon Mission’ was introduced as an issue of 111 in the summer of 1970, to commemorate the July 1969 moon landing. The July 1970 Cybis price list is the first mention, on any price list that I currently have, of any Cybis edition being a ‘Commemorative’:
Within the July 1971 list there is now an actual separate Commemorative category. Of the four designs in it, two (Conductor’s Hands and Tranquility Base) are already marked as ‘Completed’ and one (Columbia) as ‘Near Completion’.
There were two editions of Cree ‘Magic Boy’: the initial one in white bisque only, in 1971, and then a later color rendition in the 1980s. It was originally designed in the early 1960s by Helen Granger Young for a different porcelain studio entirely. Cybis purchased the rights to it later, and introduced it as an edition of 100, supposedly to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Canadian province of Manitoba which contains a large Cree population. However, why a New Jersey studio would want to commemorate the anniversary of a Canadian province is a mystery to me!
There were no further ‘Commemorative’ editions until the autumn of 1975 when Cybis introduced the first of several Bicentennial-themed pieces. This was the George Washington Bust, originally commissioned by the Bicentennial Council of the Thirteen Original States; that is their logo medallion (enamel on metal) n the front of each wood base. This was made for five years, with a starting price of $175.
The white bisque Eagle atop the Palisades, an open edition that sold for $150, was produced at the request of the New Jersey Bicentennial Commission. The round porcelain medallion in front is their logo; the one behind it is the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey. This version was available for sale only during 1976. If you think the eagle looks familiar, you’re right: It flew here from the top of the 1970 Apollo 11 Moon Mission!
Yet another 1976 introduction was the limited-edition (100) Colonial Flower Basket. This too was a Bicentennial item; the flowers in it represent the official ones of the thirteen original states. Because some of those states share the same flower, only nine species are represented. The appendix in the 1979 Cybis catalog lists this as a Commemorative edition.
In the Fall of 1979, the studio introduced a Commemorative Chess Set based on the original that was created for a 1972 Gift of State from the USA to Russia. The set included a chessboard and mahogany storage case. Only ten sets were made for retail. The pieces were cast from the same molds as the 1972 originals (were not downsized) but the paint colors and certain decorative elements are different. Both of the sets are examined in the Chess Set post. Obviously, the retail set commemorates the creation of the original Gift of State (which was not designed by anyone at the Cybis studio, but had been done decades earlier by freelance sculptor Harry Burger.)
A few years later, the studio further expanded the definition of Commemorative as ‘commemorating previous creations that were sold by the Cybis studio.’ The next such item was the Holy Child of Prague Plaque. There were actually two such Commemorative plaque editions of this; the first was an edition of only one plaque, created in the Spring of 1980. In the Fall of 1980, a variant was introduced as a retail edition of 25. The photo above is of that retail edition. The purpose of both was to commemorate the creation of the original Holy Child of Prague sculpture for the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. during the mid-1950s. The studio also created an edition of 25 retail sculptures starting in 1957, although those were never described as ‘commemorative.’ See all of the various Child of Prague representations by Cybis in their own post.
The other ‘commemorating-something-previously-made’ introduction in 1980 was The Bride, which everyone refers to as The Polish Bride. This commemorates the original oil painting created by Boleslaw Cybis in 1937. The Cybis sculpture was an edition of 100, and at that time was the most expensive retail Cybis piece available, at $6500. More photos of her, and of the painting and the backstory behind it, are in the Polish Bride post.
In the autumn of 1980 the studio released yet another plaque that commemorated a previous Cybis piece (this was becoming a habit.) This one is based on the 1963 limited edition sculpture Moses, the Great Lawgiver which was designed by Laszlo Ispanky. The Moses Plaque was originally a declared issue of 50 but was reduced to only 25 in 1982 (whether from production problems or from lack of collector demand, is not known.) Both this and the Holy Child of Prague Plaque were designed and painted by George Ivers, who at that time was the studio’s Art Director.
The next Commemorative Edition has defied all of my attempts to find out exactly what was commemorated. Kateri Tekakwitha ‘Lily of the Mohawks’ was, like Magic Boy, produced in white bisque as an edition of 100. This does not commemorate the canonization of the subject, because that did not take place until 2012. She was born in 1656 and died in 1860, so those dates don’t relate to this sculpture’s introduction year either. Unfortunately, I do not have the Spring 1981 brochure in which her introduction would have appeared. Perhaps that gives a clue; if anyone happens to have that brochure, I would love to see a scan of it! There is a Contact Form link at the bottom of this post.
In the Spring of 1981, Brielle Galleries sent this invitation to their customers. It introduced the Humpback Whale and mentions the upcoming Summer 1981 collection from Cybis. I do not have a copy of a Spring or Summer 1981 list, but the whale does appear on the Fall 1981 list as a “Cousteau Commemorative.” The piece does not commemorate Jacques Cousteau’s death (he was still alive at the time), nor the 1973 founding of the Cousteau Society. So, your guess is as good as mine! There were originally 500 of these intended to be made, but the edition size was rather quickly reduced to 250. The example shown above has its original accompanying base but is missing the two seabirds that originally were attached to the front-most section of the water. I have not yet seen one for sale that still has the base and the seabirds! It was sculpted by Charles Oldham.
The Spring 1982 price list has the other Cousteau-affiliated piece, Arion the Dolphin Rider, under the Commemorative heading. He was an edition of 1000. This is not an original Cybis design; it is a porcelain replica of a circa-1930 Carl Jennewein bronze. Please see the All at Sea post for important information regarding the authentic and phony Cousteau signatures that are found on these two sculptures.
The studio’s Spring 1983 Introductions brochure includes this First Annual Commemorative Egg. I don’t have the accompanying price list, however.
This small flyer accompanied the Egg. So, are the Cybis eggs commemorating/honoring Theo Fabergé? Or are they commemorating the year 1983?
Unfortunately, I am missing all of the Cybis price lists for Summer 1983 through 1987, which means I have no idea whether any of those eggs were placed into the Commemorative section. If so, that would mean that all four eggs (shown above) were Commemorative Editions. See the Decorative Eggs post for more information on each, as well as other Cybis eggs that were not described as ‘Commemoratives.’
The Spring 1985 brochure introduced Liberty, an edition of 100 which was created
In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the renowned Statue of Liberty in New York, […] A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Liberty will benefit the Liberty Park Monument Committee.
Well, things got very murky at Cybis during the late 1980s and the studio closed temporarily during most of 1990. By that time, professionally printed illustrated new-introductions brochures were very much a thing of the past (in other words, they were not in the budget.) In their October 1990 price list, the Commemoratives have been relegated to a sub-heading (beneath their new ‘Hall of Fame Collection’) and there are only three sculptures in it.
This is the downsized version of the original Liberty, titled Liberty II. This version was a new declared edition of 500 and is 13” high. The other two items were an even more downsized (11” high) piece called Liberty III with Desert Storm Emblem; I have never seen one, or even a photo of one. The introduction date shown is 1991, which indicates that it would be available the following year, as an Open edition.
The third is Little Miss Liberty II. She began her Cybis life as Little Miss America, a single-year-production piece in 1986 only. (That is the piece shown in this photo, because I have no photos of the 1990s ‘II’ version.) Cybis brought her out of retirement in 1991 and re-christened her as Little Miss Liberty II, a commemorative edition; but again, commemorating what? The original (shown above) did not commemorate anything. She was not listed as part of the Constitutional collection in 1986, although some other Cybis introductions were. By 1995, she is no longer in the Commemoratives list. But wait, there’s more!! In the early 2000s, they pulled her out of retirement again and offered her as Little Miss Liberty with Bow (a yellow bow for the returning troops, instead of a book.) A photo of that one can be seen in the Born in the USA post.
Under Commemorative on the Fall 1993 price list, there are now only two items: Liberty II, and the Cupid Bowl. This piece has a convoluted history which is told in its own Archive post. Because Cybis abandoned the creation of semi-annual brochures, we don’t even know how it was described. Does it commemorate the original circa-1940s/1950s grapevine-motif bowl that was a product of the studio but was definitely not designed by Boleslaw or Marja Cybis? Or does it commemorate the first time that one of these was awarded to someone (in 1982, to Tony Randall)? This ‘Commemorative’ edition was a non-limited one, despite its almost-$1000 price tag.
Just below that section is a second, and thankfully last, entry. It is titled Commemorative Chess Set (colors of Original Gift of State), so I guess that means these are Commemoratives also. Six individual chess pieces – King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook, and Pawn – are listed there, each as an edition of 1000 priced at $375. They are smaller than the two previous Chess Set pieces, having been downsized for this purpose. I have never even seen a photo of one of these, let alone one for sale. It may well be that none were either made or sold; and there were none among any of the lots in the studio’s 2019-2020 liquidation auctions.
One-Shot ‘Commemoratives’
The following “editions of one” were designated as Commemoratives under the Collections column of the Appendix of the 1979 Cybis Catalog. A much better category for these would have been ‘One of a Kind’.
The Crown Crested Crane was created for display at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. I saw it in person (yes, I am that old!) and it was amazing. Its fate is unknown.
The Flower Bouquet of the United States was displayed elsewhere at that same Fair. It has its own Archive post which also contains a photo of how it looks today inside the holdings of the Smithsonian.
Saint Peter, designed by Laszlo Ispanky, was another 1964 piece that was created as a gift for Pope Paul VI to commemorate his visit to the USA that year. Although supposedly only one was made, a partially-painted one was in the 2019 liquidation auction of the studio’s backstock. It’s quite possible that there may be other examples, although this design was never offered as a retail edition.
Three specially-decorated Columbia were presented to the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969. This is a photo of one of them. The difference is the addition of the NASA shield. The 1979 Cybis catalog listed these three as a separate Commemorative edition.
The original 1972 Chess Set was likewise listed that way. More information is in the Chess Set post.
Supposedly, only one trio of American Buffaloes was originally created, as a Gift of State to the people of Iceland in 1975, “to celebrate that nation’s 1200th birthday.” The problem is, the math doesn’t add up. Even if the 1200th in the Cybis catalog is wrong, and should be 120 instead, it’s still incorrect. Iceland became a nation in 1918, which means its 100th national birthday was in 2018…not 1975. The first settlement of Iceland was during the 9th Century, the official guesstimate being around 874 by Ingolfir Arnarson. Twelve hundred years before 1975 would give a “birthday” year of 775 which is 100 years before the historically accepted discovery of Iceland. So, we have NO idea what the 1970s Buffaloes were actually commemorating, other than that it had something to do with Iceland. Or maybe not. (The photo above is of the 1990s Hall of Fame downsized replica, which was called Charging Buffaloes. The original would have had a natural mahogany base, not a painted or mystery-material one such as this appears to be.)
And the final one-shot Commemorative (according to the 1979 Cybis catalog) was the OOAK Holy Child of Prague Plaque that year. It does differ slightly from the retail edition that subsequently appeared. Because the studio never issued a catalog with an Appendix again – there were only two more Cybis catalogs, in 1982 and 1986 – we do not know whether a single, somewhat different, Moses Plaque was made as a one-shot also. My guess is, probably not.
Although most of the Commemorative pieces by Cybis do have a logical reason behind them, I’m not sure if I buy the premise that any manufacturer’s product can actually “commemorate” something that the same manufacturer had previously made and sold at retail. It would be fine to call something like that a Replica Edition, and many manufacturers do use that term; for example, replica team-sports jerseys, especially if with a specific player’s name and number. That said, Cybis did use the proper term ‘replica’ for their Golden Anniversary edition re-issue of the previously retired Madonna with Bird.
Much as I deplore the entire practice of replicating in any form something that was originally advertised by its maker as “never to be made again” – an attribute that Cybis historically touted – that purpose was supposedly served by the Hall of Fame editions. However, those were thankfully not thought of (or, at least, implemented) until 1990.
Are ‘Commemorative’ designs worth any more than normal retail editions? The answer is No, unless a purchaser has an interest in whatever person or event was actually commemorated by the Cybis sculpture in question. But it’s interesting, I think, to see what events/people/items the studio did decide – or agree – to ‘commemorate’.
Name Index of Cybis Sculptures
Visual Index (for human figures/busts only)
About the Cybis Reference Archive
What is Cybis?
Images of Cybis porcelains are provided for informational and educational purposes only. All photographs are copyrighted by their owner as indicated via watermark and are used here only as reference material. Please see the Copyright Notice in the footer and sidebar for important information regarding the text that appears within this website.
The Cybis Archive is a continually-updated website that provides the most comprehensive range of information about Cybis within a single source. It is not and never has been part of the Cybis Porcelain studio, which is no longer in business.
THE CYBIS ARCHIVE 