The design number that was assigned to each Cybis porcelain is one of those tiny nuggets of information that once served a useful purpose but is now of value only to research geeks like myself (and possibly others.) Originally, it indicated the genre to which the sculpture belonged and also no doubt simplified the bookkeeping [...]
Category: Identifying/Authenticating
Will the Real Cybis Madonna Queen of Angels Please Stand Up?
No, I’m really not pairing the chorus of Eminem’s The Real Slim Shady with a Cybis sculpture... even though there certainly were sufficient iterations to warrant it! Although the studio was never shy about borrowing pieces from one sculpture to help create another (see Body Snatching), this particular madonna bust not only kept popping up [...]
Seeking Cypia in 1950s Cybis
Cybis pieces produced during the 1950s are noticeably different from the post-1960 sculptures in several ways. One is that almost all of them were cast from commercially available molds, a topic more fully explored in When Is a Cybis Not a Cybis. Another is that a fair percentage of 1950s items were fully glazed, rather [...]
Double Trouble: Dual-Signature Cordey/Cybis Porcelains
Despite the pieces having been produced in the same studio, it’s usually easy to distinguish Cordey and Cybis from each other by sight; their styles were very different. Most Cordey items were Old World/European/Dresden in flavor, while the first-decade Cybis retail pieces were either religious (most) or animals and birds (some.) They were also marked [...]
Base Behavior at Cybis
Fear not: This is neither a juicy scandal nor a moralistic lecture. It’s an overview of all the Cybis retail sculptures ever produced on or with a base, and there’s a more interesting variety of them than one would think. All Cybis bases fall into one of two categories: either physically attached to the sculpture [...]
Can’t Find Your Cybis in The Archive? Here’s a Cheat Sheet.
Are you trying to identify a Cybis porcelain whose name is unknown to you? Here are a few helpful tips for locating it within this website. Human Figures As of March 2021, there is a Visual Index for the identification of human figures and busts. However, it's important to read the introductory paragraph before you [...]
Identifying Unsigned 1950s Cybis Porcelains
The first decade of the Cybis porcelain 'brand' existence was a bit of a Wild West show, to say the least. Unlike subsequent decades which came under Marylin Chorlton's ownership, most of the 1950s pieces are both a blessing and a curse to collectors. A curse because almost all of them were cast from commercially [...]
Decoding Cybis and Cordey Design and Mold Numbers
The two Boleslaw Cybis porcelain lines (Cordey and Cybis) both utilized a number system for their production but approached them in rather different ways. A working knowledge of both can be helpful when trying to identify the 1950s output of the Cybis branded items in particular. The Cordey Numbering System In the July 2004 issue [...]
The Cybis archive 