Designer: Richard Rohac (1906 – 1956)

Item: Pair of Bookends

Manufactured by: Richard Rohac

Country of origin: Austria

Year made: Late 1940s

Materials: Patinated and unpolished brass

Dimensions: Each are 4 ¾” x 2 ½” x 3 ½” 

Condition: Very good.  With some scratches and a few minor dings as shown.

Description: Another fine, well executed and elegant patinated brass work by Richard Rohac.  Often Rohac’s bookends, ashtrays and candlesticks compete well with the overall quality, craftsmanship and design of Carl Auböck, but at a much more reasonable price point.  This set was easy to date because the unpatinated edges show unevenness and blotchy brass indicative of brass works from Austria immediately after World War II when brass shell casings from munitions were melted for use.  The brass was filled with imperfections creating this splotchy quilted look to the unpatinated finish, and the patinated finish was used to cover the uneven brass finish.  

Marked with the reverse Rs and Rohac’s unique “Made in Austria” marks as shown in the photographs. 

Rohac was a master metal craftsman who began and completed his apprenticeship with the Werkstatte Hagenauer in Vienna, Austria as a teenager and stayed with the workshop another nine years before opening his own metalwork business in 1932.