Offered for sale is the highly sought after Goebel Hummel ADVENTURE BOUND. #347 , TMK 6, signed by master artist Gernot Schultheis, who painted this piece. Adventure Bound is one of the most coveted and valuable Hummels based on a drawing by Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel illustrating an old German fairy tale known as the Seven Swabians. It depicts seven young lads heading off on an adventure carrying one long spear with them. One lad carries a hammer and another, a small lantern. The original model was designed by Theo R. Menzenbach in 1955 and released to the general public in 1971. The figurine was manufactured in limited numbers due to the difficulty in producing its intricate 7 person design, hence, it is rare and very valuable. Measures about 7.25 inches tall x 8.25 inches long x about 4.75 inches wide. This figurine is crafted in fine porcelain and hand painted, with careful attention to details, by the master artist who signed this piece. In excellent condition, with no chips, cracks or repairs, minor crazing on base. It is a substantial piece that weighs in at 2 lbs. Please see pictures as they are an integral part of the description. And please feel free to make an offer. If it’s a reasonable offer, this beautiful piece can be yours. Comes from a smoke free and pet free home. Bonus : If you’re interested in the fairy tale behind this Hummel, here it is. Once upon a time there were Seven Swabians who travelled through the world. To be safe from danger they carried one long spear. One day in July they walk through a meadow just by nightfall and notice a hornet. Unaware what they just heard the men start to panic, thinking it was a war drum. One of them tries to flee, jumps over a fence and then walks right on the teeth of a rake, whereupon the handle hits him in the face. He quickly begs for mercy and tells the invisible attacker that he’ll surrender, whereupon his six friends do the same. Later, when they finally understand they were fooled they decide to keep this embarrassing anecdote a secret. To prevent the story from getting out they swear to not say anything about it until one of them should accidentally open his mouth. Later they encounter a hare. Sleeping in the sun. They take the animal for a monster and decide to attack it. After bracing themselves with all the courage they can get they strike out and the hare runs away, whereupon they realize they’ve once again been fooled. Travels onward until they reach the river Moselle. Unaware how to cross it they ask a man on the opposite side of the river for help. Due to the distance and their language the man doesn’t understand what they were saying and he asked them in the dialect of Trier. This causes the men to think that they have to wade (German: wate) through the water. As the first Swabian gets into the river he starts to sink into the mud. His hat is blown away to the opposite shore, next to a frog who croaks noises that sound like “wat, wat, wat”. The six surviving Swabians think it’s their friend telling them to wade across; they rush in the water and all drown. The story is really an olden day’ blonde joke. About the people of Swabia and is thought to have been told by those in neighboring areas of Germany as a tongue-in-cheek insult to the region.
