Alchemy’s Kate Wood recently restored a broken metal statuette called The Good Fairy.

This small sculpture was snapped in half.

This small sculpture was snapped in half.

This popular statuette dating from 1916 was manufactured by Jessie McCutcheon Raleigh of Chicago and is just under twelve inches tall. Originally, the piece had a bronze finish, but the piece Kate repaired had been painted white. The designer for this work was Josephine Kern. Once Kate repaired it, the figure’s grace emerged.

 

The Good Fairy repaired.

The Good Fairy repaired.

 

An unusual trait for this piece is that it is androgynous: one side is male, the other female.

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The girl side.

 

Fairy Face

The androgynous face.

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The boy side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to Jessie McCutcheon Raleigh, the statue symbolized, “A good fairy that shall be grace and innocence and sunshine, that shall smile back in the the sad hearts of the old world, that shall spur people on to their best and in that way bring them good luck.”

 

The small statue became so popular during WWI that ‘Good Fairy Clubs’ were formed.

The Good Fairy

Repairing a metal statuette is extremely rewarding when the history is as fascinating The Good Fairy!

L.M. Montgomery, beloved author of Anne of Green Gables, wrote a poem inspired by this statue:

Message of the Good Fairy  

I spring from the spray on the tip of the crest
Of the billows from out of the blue,
I am bringing a message that says you are blest
By the love that your friends bear for you.
If my arms were as long as the wings of the wind
And I’d stretch them wide away,
I never could hold all the blessings I’m told
Your friends are wishing today.
As long as I stand with this smile on my face
And my arms outstretched so high,
If you’ll think of the friend that sent me to you,
You can never be blue if you try.