$309.00

SOLD in the first 3 days it was listed for more than our offers over price. Follow us on Instagram so you don’t miss any of our new finds.

All iNVISeDGE prices are in AUSTRALIAN dollars (AUD $309) is significantly less in American dollars. LOCATION– BRISBANE (Australia) near the city but this can be posted internationally for the cost of postage plus $4 for packing and the storage of used packing materials. We regularly pick up clean packing materials from an electrical store before it ends up as landfill. Contact us if have any Bitossi animals you want to sell. Our commission fee is 7.5% to 18.5% when your item sells to use iNVISeDGE as a selling platform (18.5% for private sellers. 7.5% for selected dealers who need a selling platform only and little of our time).

 

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Description

SOLD in the first 3 days it was listed for more than our offers over price. Follow us on Instagram so you don’t miss any of our new finds. www.instagram.com/invisedge

This item is priced at $309 AUD (AUSTRALIAN dollars). AU $309 is about 212 in AMERICAN $.

Background Info and Provenance

A VINTAGE Bitossi bull made in Italy in the mid-to-late 1970’s or early 80’s. This is a genuine VINTAGE Bitossi piece made by HAND. There have been recent re-issues of Bitossi pieces (they started happening in 1999- I don’t think they’re being made anymore though- thank Goodness!). The re-issues are nothing like the vintage originals. The new ones look like they’re plaster poured into a mould (they look mass-produced and are). They don’t have the hand-made quality of the vintage pieces. The re-issues found their way into Australia around 2007 and many ebay sellers at the time were labelling them as “authentic” and “retro”. In my eyes they can’t possibly be “authentic”. Bitossi pieces captured the attention of the world because of the HAND-MADE craftsmanship and individualistic quality. The re-issues were not made by hand and they are certainly not “retro” either (they are still only about 10 years old!). They are modern re-issues (copies) of the vintage originals (made using modern mass-production techniques).

In my eyes, you’d be better off buying a modern décor piece from China. All the modern re-issues of each animal look exactly the same- the patterns and decoration are identical for each shape. THIS IS AN ORIGINAL VINTAGE BITOSSI PIECE- 100% GUARANTEED HAND-MADE & VINTAGE. Look closely at our photos and the hand-made quality quickly becomes obvious. You can see roughness in the clay where some areas have not been worked so much. Tooling marks are obvious along the spine and near the tail. The FLAVIA Bitossi pieces were ALL hand-made and hand-decorated by artisans. Wheel thrown, hand-made, hand-decorated pottery is always individualistic and “imperfect” (as you can see in these photos). It is these factors that makes Bitossi so desirable and collectable. (It is more about the HAND-crafted quality.)

I purchased this Bitossi bull from an estate sale years ago when I was still in Sydney (along with several other Rimini Blu animals- several of these have recently sold). The people clearing out the estate told me this family immigrated to Australia from the UK in 1982 and bought some of their furniture and many of their special decorative arts items with them. This pinpoints the date of this piece to the mid-to-late 1970’s. The famous Bitossi factory in Italy started marking all their decorative arts pieces with a FLAVIA impression (like this) from 1976 onwards. In the mid-1980’s when mass-produced Chinese décor items flooded worldwide markets, production of decorative arts items at the Bitossi factory slowed. At this time, the output of items in this colourway (the famous “Rimini Blu” colours) reduced dramatically. By the 1990’s the Bitossi factory was producing a lot of other looks and styles. From the 1980’s, Giovanni Masone took over as artistic director and invited various Memphis group artists to collaborate with FLAVIA including Piero Fornasetti. Bitossi / FLAVIA items in the 1990’s were largely in different styles and the production of animals (particularly in this Rimini Blu colourway) virtually stopped (many earlier animals that remained popular for 30-odd years stopped altogether in the 1990’s).

These small Bitossi bulls are very hard to get. They weren’t made for very long- you’d be pretty hard pressed to find another (particularly here in Australia). There are a LOT of interest in Bitossi bulls (probably because 1/12 of the population fall under the Taurus star-sign!) We’ve sold a number of bulls as birthday gifts particularly for milestones such as a 21st and 50th. The collectability of these won’t ever die- the value of vintage Bitossi pottery has never waned and constantly increases is value. I sold a large bull back in 2012 for $350- in 2021 I sold the exact same design for $770 (and it sold in just 15 minutes too!) I wish I had hung onto some of the Bitossi pieces from my earlier days in this business. :+(

In the early 2000’s, there was a re-discovery of vintage Bitossi (particularly in Australia) and by 2007 the re-issues flowed into Australia (mainly via ebay). These pieces were not met by the buying public in Australia (and around the world) with much enthusiasm. They lacked the magic and imagination of vintage Bitossi and sellers of the re-issues quickly gave up- the re-issues disappeared only after a matter of years. They’re still floating around and changing hands but they have very little collector appeal. (In saying this though, a few shapes that were picked up later as re-issues are very rare. Interestingly, these shapes are very rare as the vintage originals too. Whether this is a coincidence or intentionally done, I don’t know. The re-issues that were done in a very small production run have some collector appeal.)

Ceramics manufacturer, Montelupo was founded in 1921 by Guido Bitossi and produced traditional terracotta wares up until the Second World War. Incredibly the Montelupo factory was miraculously spared during WWII. Production continued during these turbulent years, despite the destruction inflicted on the other local businesses and factories by Allied bombs. In order to continue operation at this time, Bitossi was forced to begin producing their own ceramic glazes, frits and colours and soon began supplying the entire region (including neighbouring countries) with Bitossi-made glazes and frits. From 1946-1976 under the artistic direction of Aldo Londi, the factory collaborated with a number of outside artists, including, Ettore Sottsass (around the late-1950’s). The arm of the business that produced decorative arts pieces took the name ‘Ceramiche Flavia’ at the beginning of 1976. In 1999, the impression changed, the FLAVIA name was lost in the impression and the word Bitossi appeared pretty-much for the first time. (The majority of VINTAGE Bitossi pieces never had the word Bitossi painted on them or impressed into the clay.)

To my knowledge, Bitossi pieces were never retailed in Australia back in the day (from the 1960’s through to the 80’s). Bitossi pottery is incredibly rare here and much-loved by Australian collectors. Vintage Bitossi pieces in Australia are about 40 times rarer than America.

The real beauty of owning vintage Bitossi is knowing your piece won’t be in vogue for a season or even a couple of years before ending up as landfill. The hand-made quality of these pieces draws people in- the heart and soul found in every vintage piece will continue to charm people regardless of their era, age and background. This piece has survived over 40 years already and particularly since COVID vintage Rimini Blu animals have become more popular than ever. There are very few better ways to invest in your home and reduce landfill.

2208.4

This bull is in excellent condition considering his age and travels. There are NO cracks, NO chips, NO noticeable damage. The horn has had a professional repair. It's not noticed at all (it has been extremely well done). I have given the piece to two friends and asked them to find any flaws with the piece- neither found anything. It took me a couple of minutes to spot this (and it's my job to notice things like this). The piece presents really well. This minor flaw influences the re-sale value very little- sellers on ebay would not disclose this at all and it'd be highly likely they'd get away with it! (This horn has been photographed very closely from many angles.) There is very light crazing, mainly to the underside- this is desirable as it substantiates it's a vintage piece. He has a length of about 16cm and measures about 8.5cm at his highest point. Weight- 481 grams. This bull is a good size- easier to give as a birthday gift. (The other Bitossi bulls are very big.) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Read our 1200+ ebay feedback comments (ALL positive and ALL for vintage furniture/decorative art SALES- 100 or so are from repeat customers). This is your guarantee that I strive to describe all my items as accurately as I can and I will not stock items unless they are in excellent condition.
PICK-UP . . . from 30 or 40 minutes North of BRISBANE city is accepted but postage is preferred as my home is hard to find. Because of this I will nominate a friend or family member for you to collect the item from if you need collection. Pick-up in person must be worked out prior to purchase- thank you. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ POSTAGE is offered internationally. All our Decorative Arts pieces are delivered through AUSTRALIA POST. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ POSTAGE ESTIMATES. . . . ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ To BRISBANE- most of our pieces cost $15 - $18 to send. . . To SYDNEY or MELBOURNE- Small Vase- around $20 - $23, Medium Vase- around $20 - $25, Large Vase- around $24 - $30. Let us know if you need an EXACT COST for postage prior to purchase. The above postage estimates include $2.95 for a signature on delivery. . . INSURANCE against being lost or broken in transit up to the value of $200 is included in the estimates above. If your vase is cheaper or more expensive than $200 this will effect your postage fee slightly. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A BOXING FEE of $3.00 is included in the fee above to cover the cost of searching for and storing used packing materials. With the millions of cardboard boxes that end up as landfill every year we don’t believe in supporting the manufacture of boxes for post. Instead of buying new boxes and packing materials and passing this cost onto our customers we spend considerable time sourcing used boxes and then fashioning boxes to fit each item. We do the same for bubble-wrap and foam pieces. This requires a large investment of time, energy, ingenuity, organization and storage space- it is much easier and cheaper to buy new packing materials but I can’t justify taking the easy way out when so much packing material ends up polluting our earth. Our $3.00 charge does little to pay for the time (and storage) needed do this and to pack your item (there is also the time needed to get your package to the post office). This is something we’re happy to do for our customers and the environment. We appreciate your support in this area.
We accept DIRECT BANK DEPOSIT. We send photographic ID of the iNVISeDGE store owner (Michael Grealy) to all customers at the point of sale, along with media articles about iNVISeDGE with photos of Michael Grealy in them (most of these articles are about 10 years old). Your payment will be paid into an Australian ANZ bank account under the name Michael Grealy (or iNVISeDGE). Please read our ebay feedback spanning more than 15 years for irrefutable proof of our online trading history and reputation. Ebay feedback can ONLY be left by LEGITIMATE PAYING customers! Additionally please be aware that in Australia ALL consumers are protected BY LAW if the goods or services they buy are not as described. (But this should be of no concern- in our first 15 years of trading we have over 1150 positive ebay feedback comments and ZERO negative feedback comments.) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On occasions a DIRECT BANK DEPOSIT can be made at the time of collection. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On occasions CASH payment when you collect your item may also be available. Confirm prior to purchase if you need this. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Other payment methods are available but problematic and may incur additional fees. Tell us prior to purchase if you are unable to feel 100% confident with our trading history and payment methods so we can negotiate something else with you.
Click on "About iNVISeDGE" at the top of this page to find out more about iNVISeDGE.

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