Wood That It Were YZ

Something occurred to me the other day - something of which I've been aware for very many years but which I've never consciously considered as a way to assess YZness. Potential YZ buyers may find it useful, particularly those with little or no experience of examining the pieces.

 

If a YZ ashtray has the tray made of oak, it's very, very, very, very unlikely to be YZ. That also tends to apply to all other YZ pieces (but omit 'very,very,very').

 

That shouldn't be too surprising. YZ sales were built on four things: the humour and functionality of their design, the novelty and attractiveness of the recently developed brightly coloured resins, the perfect craftsmanship of their  construction - and the exotic quality of the materials used. Oak simply wasn't considered exotic enough.

 The eyes have it! The eyes have it!

I was looking through the ‘Is it YZ? Or isn’t it?’ article on the website a couple of days ago and realised that the section on eyes could use a bit of clarification if it’s to be of use to a newcomer thinking of buying into the world of YZ. It lacks the way to recognise a painted eye (as used in most non-YZ pieces).So here are images the two types.

The iris colour of YZ eyes is provided by a layer of coloured glass beneath the black glass of the pupil. Since coloured glass doesn’t discolour, those eyes remain bright and vibrant today, nearly a century after their manufacture.

 Non-YZ eyes though have a painted iris. Over time, that paint tends to degrade, becoming faded and blotchy.

The difference between the two is usually fairly obvious. If the eyes are painted, the piece isn’t YZ, no matter what the seller may tell you.

Know Your YZs

I put a new page on the website a couple of days ago, entitled ‘YZ Buyers Beware’, concerning a worrying trend on ebay. I’ve long been angered by incorrect auction headings and descriptions of YZ pieces on ebay, as well as non-YZ  pieces being indicated as possibly being YZ. (See the post from April, 2013 as well as ‘Is SomebodyTrying To Con You?’ on the website.) But ebay sellers are now further pushing the boundaries by asserting that pieces which are clearly non-YZ – and often pretty poor examples of them – are definitely YZ. That assertion is usually accompanied by a sprinkling of words to (hopefully) bolster that assertion – e.g. ‘Henry Howell’, ‘Dunhill’ and ‘Faturan’. 

There’s a page on the website – ‘Is it? Or isn’t it?’ – which should help inexperienced buyers to identify genuine YZ pieces but I’m always happy to help. Just email me the ebay item number, using the contact form here. 

That said, don’t be deterred from buying non-YZ if you like the piece – some are exceedingly well-crafted, sometimes matching YZ’s workmanship. I have a large non-YZ collection, none of which I bought thinking them to be YZ and all of which I thoroughly enjoy having around.