Mr. Modtomic Loves Him Some Ben Seibel...But Are These, In Fact, Ben Seibel? If So What Is Up With The Maison Gourmet On The ID Sticker? Status: Beats Me.

Another nice little item I picked up at the auction Saturday: a pair of (what are ostensibly) Ben Seibel brass bookends.   After seeing another pair on Hannah's blog years ago I fell hard for the various designs and have always been on the look out for them.  This pair was shown in the preview photos for the vintage modern auction and were on my list to check out when I arrived.

OK, here's the deal...EVERYWHERE you look on the web these bookends are attributed to Ben

Seibel.  Note the label on the bottom of this set.  It's kinda hard to read so here ya go: Maison Gourmet

a product of Jenfredware.  No mention of Ben Seibel...and what's up with "Maison Gourmet"?  Is that

a designer's name...or perhaps the name of a line of products?  I tried to find the answer but really

couldn't get any info on the Maison Gourmet.

Of course, none of it matters as these are an amazing set of bookends and a fantastic design.  They

were on my list, and I was gonna have 'em!  They weren't cheap, but hey...sometimes you gotta spend

a little money.  These aren't something I'm likely to have another shot at anytime soon and having

great design around the house is what it's all about.  You might remember from a while back this

other set of Ben Seibel attributed bookends that I picked up at a local antique mall.

And it ain't like we don't have a ton of books around here to prop up between these beauties.  The

Girlfriend can't come home from a thrift store without a couple of bags paperbacks and I, of course,

will buy just about any home decor book.  I do have various other interesting books too, like the The

Andy Warhol Diaries, the Kurt Cobain Journals and A Pictorial Encyclopedia The American Movies.

I like to have stuff around that makes me and the Girlfriend seem like the much more interesting

people that we really like to think we are.