Duff Tweed's Wall Street Journal Hobo via Joel Rothschild

Hello.  Welcome new collectors and frequent visitors!


July 2011 was a crazy month for Duff Tweed carving collectors on the West Coast.  We here at Duff Tweed Carvings were inundated with offers we received to purchase carvings.  We worked with our good friend at the Rust Trap Ranch to take a few off our hands.  Gary is building quite a collection over there in Simi Valley, CA.  Combined we estimate we have built up one of the largest collections of Duff's carvings anywhere.  We would welcome the opportunity to hear otherwise. *smile*


About a week ago, I met a wonderful person with a carving, Joel Rothschild.  He is also an award winning author.  His god-mother was an avid collector of art and was very busy collecting local artist's work during the period of 1955 to 1970.  Fortunately for us, she learned that Duff Tweed lived locally in Pasadena, California and purchased the Wall Street Hobo below. 

The carving is from 1969 which is in print on the Wall Street Journal pages in the background.  Below is a close-up photo where you can see part of the "6" and all of the "9" just to the lower right of his left ear.  The "1969" is clearly visible in the picture above.

 This particular carving has Duff's signature and "Pasadena" written on the front and is in excellent condition.  All the Wall Street Hobo's with Wall Street print in the background that we have prior to this one do not have a signature or "Pasadena" on the front.  Additionally, if you go back and look at the other carvings we have of this same figure, you'll see they have orange painted shirts while this one is painted in red.

A neat thing about collecting Duff Tweed carvings are the people you meet.  Joel is a very nice, interesting and involved person.  He gives the proceeds of his sales to his charity of choice and has done so for many years.  Obtaining art from such people just makes the entire experience more enjoyable and unforgettable.   So, here's a big shout out to Joel for allowing us to purchase this carving.  Thanks Joel, we appreciate you and your willingness to share this Duff Tweed carving with the world.

The Godfather - Mark Handler - UPDATE 9/10/11: Mark now owns this Wall St. Hobo and  Double Jigger Jack Grant

In the spirit of popularizing Duff Tweed, we sometimes share our finds with friends and family.  As life (with it's coincidences) would have it, my god-father was interested in this particular piece, so much so that I had picked it up knowing he would end up with it.  As I write this, god-father Mark Handler is waiting to receive his first Duff Tweed carving.  Yes, we created another collector!  Mark is an extremely artistic person, so having him as a collector is a great compliment to Duff's work.  Looking back, we have started several people collecting Duff's work.  As obscure of a collection as it is, these new collectors have discovered the broad appeal of Duff's work.  They know his carvings exist!  


So, from god-mother to god-father, this piece passes.


Stay tuned . . . we have another post to follow shortly. You won't want to miss it as a lot of never before seen carvings will be included.


All the best!
-Joe