The Dog Days of Summer - Part III


 

Cast Iron German Shepherd Figural Bookends (LEO Design)

 

We are counting-down the last of the "Dog Days of Summer"—a forty day period scheduled to end on 11 August.  To commemorate these waning days of Summer, we'd like to share some of our favorite "canines" from the LEO Design collection.  Consider sending one as a gift to your favorite dog lover.

This pair of antique bookends—I've had a few of them during LEO Design's 28 years in business—has always been a customer favorite.  Handsomely sculpted, proudly alert, these Shepherds are noble, fit and fine.  They were made in the Twenties, the heyday of German Shepherd Superstar "Rin Tin Tin."

Rin Tin Tin was a German Shepherd who appeared in 27 Hollywood films.  He was immensely popular, worldwide, and ignited an interest in German Shepherds as American household pets.  An American soldier had discovered him, his mother and four littermates in a bombed-out kennel in France (1918).  The soldier rescued the dogs giving four of them away.  But he kept one male and one female puppy for himself—eventually sneaking them aboard his transport ship when returning home.  He trained the dogs and found them work in Hollywood.  The rest is history.  Click on the photo above to learn more about these handsome bookends.

More Dog Day items to come, tomorrow and over the following days. 

 

Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well!  Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com)

We also can be found in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania at The Antique Center of Strabane (www.antiquecenterofstrabane.com).

Or call to arrange to visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only).  917-446-4248