Designer: Richard Rohac (1906 – 1956)

Item: Dachshund Pretzel Holder

Manufactured by: Richard Rohac

Country of origin: Austria

Year made: Ca. 1950

Materials: Patinated and polished brass

Dimensions: 8 ¼” x 7” x 1 ½” (base diameter)             

Condition: Excellent   

Description: Here is another classic design for an Austrian metal pretzel holder in the shape of a Dachshung dog.  These pretzel holders are often mistaken as ring holders for jewlery, which they function very well for, but were actually made to hold baked pretzels. The Rohac pretzel holders are sometimes confused for the chunkier and somewhat less refined examples designed by Walter Bosse and manufactured by Herta Baller. This breed of dog can also be found used for other Austrian brass objects from this period, but this particular pretzel holder is hard to find. This example is marked on the bottom with the Rohac cypher of reverse Rs and his arched “Made in Austria” as shown in the photos.  Rohac’s animal figures, which included elephants, monkeys and cats are often depicted in whimsical and cartoonish ways, but are of very high quality and craftsmanship.

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. Rohac’s work competes with Hagenauer and in some instances Aubock.