Barsony Lady – Black Lady - Barsony Ceramics

One of the most iconic and most collected items of the 1950s.

On the weekend we were lucky enough to come across this beautiful lady. She is absolutely stunning. I love everything about her, her polka dot bikini, her pose, her shoes and her red lippy and nails. She defines the 50’s.

I took some pics of her for our website today and I was do some research and thought I would give you a bit of a summary about these beautiful ‘Black Ladies’ and share what I found.

10 quick facts about Barsony Ceramics

1.   George Barsony was born in Hungary in 1917 and moved to Australia in 1949 as an assisted refugee.
2.   George Barsony and his wife Jean started making these ‘Black Lady’ figures in their studio in Guildford, Western Sydney.
3. The ‘Black Ladies’ came in many forms; lamps, statues, vases and ashtrays.
4.  Barsony Ceramics had many employees and each piece is hand painted.
5. There were prefix markings on each piece. The letter marking identified the type of product e.g. H = bust, HL = head lamp, V = vase, L = lamp, FL = face lamp etc. The number that followed is then the mould number.
6. There were a lot of ‘Black Lady’ ashtrays produced as at the time of production ashtrays cost less in tax to sell.
7.  Whilst he made predominately ‘Black Ladies’ he also made pink poodles, candlesticks, bowls and wall hangings.
8. Barsony finished trading in 1970, however today his figures are one of the most sorts after collectables of the 1950s and 60s.
9.  He died at age 92.
10. Like everything popular there are many reproductions and copies on the market.

Some tips to tell the difference;

a.     Look at the base, Barsony used a letter, then a dash than a number e.g.: HL-4

b.     Barsony breasts are round and never pointed like the common style of other ceramics at the time.

c.      Barsony use brightly coloured paint to make bikinis, skirts etc. Most copies do not have bright vivid paint.

There is a great picture tribute to George Barsony on flickr, you can find it here;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barsony_black_lady_lamp/5080382899/in/set-72157622380785446/lightbox/