I recently came across a few strange metal hedgehog sets and was surprised to find that they were all highly magnetic! That is a trait shared only by ferrous metals, or metal with iron in them. So I figured I should put a post together and talk about all their curious traits and how I think they fit into the catalog (if at all).
Copper Plated Steel Set #1:
This is the first set I came across. I thought it might be another solid copper set like the one I already have in the collection. But like I found out with all the other sets, it is magnetic, and copper certainly isn’t magnetic! The further I looked at it, I could see some of the steel underneath (showing through the copper plating). Here is a closeup photo of it on the spines:
It seems like this set was cast in steel in some steel alloy and then plated afterward with copper to give it that golden coloration. The whole thing was then put through a patination process afterwards, possibly to give the patina something to adhere to. The spines and ears all have the copper highlighting, while the body retains most of the patina. The color of the patina ended up more of a grayish color than the rich black you get from a traditional solid brass hedgehog set. Here is an authentic brass hedgehog set next to this copper plated steel set:
The coloration is very different. As you can see, they are very close in size and look as if they came from the same mold or pattern. Even the baby of the sets look almost identical, though the steel one is more crude (see below):
I believe this set to be some kind of experimental model, not made for production but more of a proof of concept to see if steel was viable for casting and making hedgehogs.
Steel Set #2:
This second steel set is identical to the first copper plated steel set, and they were purchased together so that’s not a surprise. They were most likely from the same experimental batch. Where these sets differ is in the execution. This set seems to be cast in the same metal, and the same copper plating was applied. But that copper patina seems to have been too thin or failed as it was then polished off to reveal more of the steel. The results led to a somewhat two-tone effect, fading from black to copper to silver, that can be seen especially on the front legs of the largest bowl.
The patina is also the same grayish tone as the above set, but has some oil-slick rainbow coloration on parts of the patina (see photos below).
From my research, this rainbow coloration may be due to the fact that the patina was put on at too hot of a temperature or had a chemical reaction to the steel. Here is a photo of an authentic solid brass set next to this steel set:
The baby of this set is also identical to an authentic solid brass baby from a hedgehog set .And the babies of the above copper plated steel set are exactly the same as well (see photos).
Another curious thing about this set of steel hedgehogs is the fact that all of the eyes have polishing around them. This is something I have never seen done on any Walter Bosse hedgehog ashtray sets in all my time and research. I have to say, I kind of dig it! I possibly like it just because it is different… I would definitely not trade the classic polishing on an authentic solid brass set of hedgehogs. But this is super fun to look at and (I think) certainly suits this set well!
As I mentioned with the above set, I believe this set to be some kind of experimental model, not made for production.
Steel Set #3:
This set of hedgehogs is also highly magnetic and (I believe) made of steel as well. This set differs in that is seems to have black paint applied instead of a patina, or at least a glossy coat of lacquer applied over the black patina. This model seems to be an attempt to try and get the rich-black patina of a solid brass set of hedgehog ashtrays. It looks to have not had any plating process like the above sets, just a light polishing on the tips of the spines and nose. In some spots, orange rust from the steel shows through the black (see photos).
And here is the steel set of hedgehog ashtrays next to an authentic solid brass set of hedgehog ashtrays. They look almost identical to me as well.
The baby of this set is also identical to an authentic solid brass baby from a hedgehog set. Also, the babies of all three of these sets look identical as well (see photos).
As I mentioned with the previous sets, I believe this set to be some kind of experimental model, not made for production.
Cast Iron Set:
I’ve shown this set in previous posts but thought I’d bring it back in because it is also ferrous and super magnetic. As I stated before, this cast iron set is super heavy and very crude because it is quite a bit harder to get detailed casting out of cast iron. Cast iron is also more brittle and some spines are missing as well as some chunks of overcasting. These were not ground down or polished in any way. They come out of the mold looking very much like they do now. The base metal on the cast iron set has a warmer tone to it, as opposed to the steel (which has more carbon in it) and usually has a cooler or more neutral grey tone (see photos).
Right off the bat, all 3 of the “steel” sets seem to have been made with the same mold even though they were purchased from different places. The cast iron set seems like it may have been made with a different mold, at least the baby in the set it indicative of being from a different mold (as it has the X leg configuration). See below a comparison between all the steel babies (with the cast iron one in the 1st position on the left) and a comparison between a solid brass baby and the cast iron baby.
And here is a comparison between the full set of cast iron hedgehogs and an authentic set of brass hedgehog ashtrays.
Steel Baby:
And last but not least is a random little steel baby I came across. It didn’t come with a full set, just a lone baby. It looks like it is just raw straight out of the mold and never had a patina applied (nor was it polished in any way). Here it is next to the authentic brass baby. Looks like the exact same mold was used again.
In Conclusion:
All the sets match up almost exactly with a known authentic brass set made by Walter Bosse. I’m inclined to say they were all experiments by Bosse or one of the foundries he was working with. At the time, a few of the foundries he worked with also had the capability of producing iron and steel products. One of those is Kurt Jesch KG, who was later sued by Bosse for selling his works without permission or proper royalties paid. If I had to guess, I bet these came from the Jesch foundry during Bosse’s time in Germany in the 1960s. Whether Bosse oversaw the making of these or not is a mystery that will probably never be able to be answered. But if I had to guess, because of the attention to detail of the castings and similarities to authentic brass models, I would say someone with an artistic eye worked on these… maybe that was Bosse himself!
