Purplemoon - I am in AWE of your totems! The pitcher frog is so cute!!! I love the colors and how you put them together. And, the amber totems are so "classy" ... wow, I am amazed at how you glass/mosaic people come up with these wonderful finished pieces!! Haven't ventured into totems yet (nor bb's)...but I keep tucking away pieces of glass now in my garden shed. And I'm ready to do a "rope-wrapped" bowling ball for my nautical part of pool garden...just plain and simple ol' haymow rope. Glad you had a "blonde" day ... or not a "blonde" day, whatever??? Thanks for sharing! Jeanne S.

Goebel made many different lines, not just the Hummel line. Worthpoint has a number of the "negro" figures on their site & I have personally sold a number of them. Just because there isn't a lot of information about them on the internet doesn't mean they don't exist. Pieces were not required to have a country of origin if they weren't imported, as the OP indicated it was probably bought in Germany. Here in Canada we see alot of english china that has no country of origin because they were brought over with the rest of the household goods. Here is a link that might be useful: goebel hummel girl

It's called a silent butler and the hostess walked around the card tables or the cocktail tables and emptied the ash trays into it... They were popular back when mostly everyone smoked. Not particularly valuable. and not too old. Linda C

Okay, new idea hit me today when I saw one of my popcorn cans that I store stuff in in my craft room..I am going to drill a small hole in the top, fill it with sand, cover the outside in vinyl maybe so it holds up outside, or paint it........just thought of the idea, but love recycling and I have about 6 of those xmas popcorn tins in the attic to store different ornies for year round xmas tree... I am working on a baby shower right now, but when I get time to do the ashcan, I will try to post pics Thanks for all of your help and I hope this idea helps others too! http://debfrompa.proboards.com/index.cgi?/