A friend gave this to me some time ago, I’ve never been extremely fond of it, and now I’m thinking about selling it on eBay. My friend suggested it was relatively expensive.
My only problem: I don’t know what it’s called. The word “maquette” floated into my brain, but according to the dictionary, that’s not quite right. And none of the maquettes on eBay resemble this one.
FYI, it’s made of iron or steel (would you call this wrought iron?), painted or anodized black. It’s about nine inches tall, the base is about ten inches wide. It’s numbered 430/1200, and “signed” by artist Tex Welch with a TW logo cut into the base.
"O.J. “Tiny” Welch, of Tatum, N.M. began cutting out silhouettes in slack times, goofing around and amusing himself – give a man some sheet metal and a cutting torch and nothing much to do and it is amazing what can come of it! He began selling some of his work to friends on ranches. I first became aware of his work in the late 1970’s when I noticed a ranch gate sign west of Jal about 30 miles. It depicts a house, a tree and cowboy getting blown over by the ubiquitous Llano Estacado wind.
In the early 1980’s, while passing through Tatum, I discovered his shop. Over the years the operation he began has created tens of thousands of pieces, while developing a reputation and a business that now markets through the Internet and Warner Brothers stores nationwide. His son, Jerrell “Tex” Welch began helping him, and now grandson Ron Welch is part of the operation."
Yeah, kinda disappointing, although auction’s not over yet. (My personal threshold for going to the trouble of selling something on eBay is $50. Less than that and I’d just as soon throw it out or give it away.)
Thanks all for helping me figure this out. For some reason, I just wasn’t thinking of it as a sculpture. Searching on ‘sculpture’ and ‘Welch’ would have gotten me there.
