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 Copyright 1920 (sheet bronze). |
 Copyright 1922 (stone). |
 Copyright 1934 (cast zinc). |
Above: The three versions of Viquesney's Doughboy.
Photos (l to r): Fostoria Focus; Seth Gaines (Flickr.com); ''BenjaminPC'' (Flickr.com).
Photos (l to r): Fostoria Focus; Seth Gaines (Flickr.com); ''BenjaminPC'' (Flickr.com).
"THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN DOUGHBOY"
Earl D. Goldsmith, The Woodlands, Texas
[Editor's note: Earl passed away March 6, 2018.
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"The Most Famous World War I Memorial Statue that Few Have Ever Heard of..."
Replications of E. M. Viquesney’s “The Spirit of the American Doughboy” are believed to comprise over 10% of U. S. World War I memorial statues (exclusive of those that are simply plaques, cenotaphs, or other non-statue markers). Additionally, some believe that except for the Statue of Liberty, Viquesney’s Doughboy replicas have collectively been seen by more people than any sculpture in the U. S., even though many don’t realize they have seen them.
Although he never said so, it's suspected that the pose Viquesney chose for his sculpture was deliberately inspired by the Statue of Liberty. The sculptor, a canny salesman, probably counted on the fact that this would unconsciously strike a chord with the public, and thus help boost his creation's popularity. |
Similarity in pose by accident or design?
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Toward the end of his time living in Americus, Georgia, in 1920 Viquesney created his Doughboy in response to a national interest to honor those who died, were wounded, or served in the World War. He said he started thinking about creating a sculpture and what it should depict, as well as making preliminary sketches, during the war. While the war was still in progress, Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of War, Newton Baker, encouraged communities across the nation to erect memorial or monuments to honor the Doughboys, and that may have contributed to Viquesney’s initial thought on that line. While he wanted to depict an American soldier in battle, he didn’t want to depict excessive might or power by portraying a soldier charging or running forward. Instead, he wanted to depict the "spirit" of the American Doughboy's determination to preserve freedom for their country and mankind. So he portrayed a Doughboy striding firmly forward in an erect posture through "no man’s land."
One of the most readily recognizable features of "Spirit of The American Doughboy" is his upwardly extended right arm with a grenade in the upraised hand. The other is the two stumps at his right front and left rear. His left arm extends downward and his left hand holds a bayoneted 1903 Springfield rifle, pointed forward at about thigh height. He wears a flat steel helmet, trousers bloused above the knee, and puttees (wrapped leggings) below the knees, all of the type worn by Doughboys in World War I. He wears a rectangular bedroll backpack with a bayonet scabbard on the side, a square gas mask pouch on his chest, a cartridge belt, canteen, mess kit, and first aid kit. Since he’s striding, rather than running or charging, his leading left leg is straight. His right leg is bent, and while the right heel is raised, the right toe touches the base. Barbed wire was originally strung loosely around his feet and the stumps, but it’s been removed for safety reasons from some Doughboys and is missing from others for other reasons.
The most replicated version of the Doughboy is of sheet bronze alloy (first of three photos, top) formed by machine die-stamping more than 75 separate pieces which were then welded together over an internal metal frame. This version is hollow and weighs only about 200 pounds. In addition to being much lighter than a true cast statue would be, it was only about 10% as costly as a cast sculpture would have been at the time, which might help explain why so many were placed across the country in the 1920s and 1930s. Ads from various trade publications of the time show that Viquesney's sheet bronze Doughboys were made by Friedley-Voshardt Co. of Chicago, Illinois, and a sample of business correspondence obtained from the Smithsonian Institution indicates that his zinc Doughboys were fabricated by Raphael Groppi Studio, also of Chicago.
Viquesney made several revisions and obtained a new copyright on his Doughboy in 1934 (last of three photos, top). At this time, he also switched from sheet bronze to cast zinc (often copper-plated to make the statue look like bronze). The most noticeable differences are that the knee-high stumps of the 1920 version are significantly shorter on the 1934 version, and also the title "SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN DOUGHBOY" is prominently embossed across the front of the base instead of on the small copyright plate of earlier versions. The copyright on the 1934 version is on the rear of the base. A minor difference is that the mouth on the 1920 version is open to the extent that crooked upper teeth are visible, while the teeth are not visible on the earliest 1934 models (in 1935 and later, the mouth is thinner, and the teeth show faintly). Additionally, the inside of the raised right heel touches the side of the rear stump on the 1920 version. It is raised, but not as high, on the 1934 version, and is separated from the stump.
Viquesney also created a stone Doughboy of marble (center photo, top). The principal visual difference from metal Doughboys is that stone Doughboys don’t have the two stumps. Instead, they have a hip-high tree trunk adjoining the figure at the left rear. While the stone Doughboy with full battle gear was copyrighted in 1922, the first ones known to have been placed as memorials were dedicated in 1930 in Madison, Georgia and Parsons, Kansas. The only other copyright 1922 stone Doughboy known to have been created was placed in Madison, West Virginia in 1938.
Viquesney said he devoted a lot of effort to studying battle gear worn by the Doughboys, and that some veterans posed for him in field uniforms and gear and that he viewed many photographs. That statement is supported by the fact that in a letter he received in April of 1921, his Doughboy was judged in a national American Legion competition of World War memorial sculptures to be a "100% perfect" representation of equipment and gear the Doughboys wore.
Perhaps due to financial difficulties stemming from an impending copyright infringement lawsuit brought on by the owner of rival American Art Bronze Foundry of Chicago, Viquesney transferred all rights to his Doughboy company to Walter Rylander, his friend and business associate in Americus, in January of 1922, and returned to his hometown of Spencer, Indiana by the end of that month. He reacquired his Doughboy company in January of 1926 and never again let it slip from his control. While over 30 Doughboys were placed while Rylander owned the rights, just four have been found with his name on the copyright plate (with no title nor mention of the sculptor's name), and one of those was dedicated in late 1926 after Viquesney had reacquired the rights (this was probably due to the lag time between initial order and delivery; the statue was likely ordered while Rylander still owned the rights and delivered after Viquesney got them back). Rylander copyrights that have been located are at Bolivar and Sedalia, Missouri, St. Bernard, Ohio, and Muskogee, Oklahoma.
It’s frequently been speculated that Rylander was the Doughboy model. He and A. B. Turpin, also of Americus, are known to have been among those who posed for Viquesney in their war gear. Turpin’s 1966 Americus obituary stated he was "the" model, but Viquesney said the face was a composite of many he’d seen personally or in photographs. It’s been erroneously contended in several instances that some local person was the model for the local Doughboy.
The first full-size Doughboy fabricated was actually the second to be placed as a memorial. It was placed in Nashville, Georgia in July or August 1921 after having been entered in the Centralia, Washington competition mentioned earlier, and then displayed in the Rylander Theater and Windsor Hotel lobbies in Americus. While Nashville’s was the first fabricated, its dedication and unveiling was delayed until its cost, and the cost of its impressive tall pedestal, were fully paid in late 1923. By that time about 25 others had been dedicated.
The first Doughboy placed as a memorial was actually the second one manufactured. It was dedicated on the campus of Greenville, South Carolina’s Furman University June 7, 1921. In 2004, after over 80 years of neglect and abuse, it was donated to the History Museum of Upcountry South Carolina and replaced by a cast bronze replica made by sculptor Maria J. Kirby-Smith. Next, Hartford City, Indiana’s Doughboy was dedicated September 28, 1921, then two more were dedicated November 11, 1921, at Americus, Georgia, and Nashville, North Carolina, to bring the total placed in that first year of 1921 to five.
In August of 1921, Viquesney began marketing a cast lead miniature 11-½" Doughboy, followed shortly by a table lamp version, with the bulb socket mounted atop the upraised right hand and a shade clamped on the bulb. The statuettes and lamps were both used as prizes in fundraising raffles, and/or given to the person performing the unveiling, often a mother or close relative of a soldier killed in the war. They were first manufactured and sold by Viquesney's friend and business partner, Walter Rylander, from a back room of Rylander's Ford dealership in Americus, Georgia. The very first miniature Viqueney Doughboy distributed anywhere was won on August 19, 1921 as a raffle or door prize at a Kiwanis Club luncheon by Jack Holst, a lieutenant in the Great War. The first two actually shipped from Americus went free of charge to President Warren G. Harding and General Jack Pershing, commander of the armed forces during the war. There were multiple sizes of miniatures, made of either metal or plaster. Several thousands of miniature Doughboys were made.
Doughboys continued to be erected until 1943, but the frequency declined in the 1930s as the depression set in and as the freshness wore off memories of the war. Viquesney’s last Doughboy was delivered to Verona, Pennsylvania in 1943.
Any report on the number of Doughboys requires some qualifying conditions: Some were destroyed and never replaced; some were destroyed and replaced; some are copies that were cast from molds taken from other existing Doughboys; and some that still exist have been withdrawn from public display due to factors such as vandalism, accidents, or weathering. Viquesney commonly stated that there were "over 300" of his Doughboys placed all over the country, but the exact number of these "originals" will probably never be known; less than half that number are accounted for on this site.
Viquesney promoted Doughboy sales in many ways. Unfortunately, some promotional material contained questionable claims. T. Perry Wesley, the long-time and widely known “Doughboy Searcher" from Spencer, Indiana warned that a degree of skepticism is warranted when information surfaces about things Viquesney said. Mr. Wesley said Viquesney wasn’t dishonest, but apparently didn't always feel the need to fully or carefully explain things, so people sometimes thought what he promised, promoted or described was, or would be, better than it actually was. While he was a very accomplished sculptor, he was prone to exaggerate matters related to his works.
Viquesney distributed brochures to civic and veteran organizations. Some mentioned that he had developed a program they could follow to raise funds needed to purchase Doughboys. He claimed that regardless of how small the organization or local community, his program had never failed where it had been followed. Brochures and advertisements contained coupons that could be mailed to him with a small payment to indicate an interest in purchasing a Doughboy. The fundraising program details and supplies were mailed to the potential buyer when the coupon was received, and the initial payment was deducted from the cost of the Doughboy when it was purchased.
The supplies Viquesney furnished purchasing organizations included a roughly three-feet by six-foot poster with a drawing of a Doughboy on a grid of approximately one-inch squares. Coupons for squares could be sold as entries in a drawing where miniature Doughboys were awarded as prizes. The price for individual squares could be set by reference to how much was needed to be raised after considering funds otherwise raised or available.
Viquesney’s promotional activities, and the fact that so many Doughboys were made, have been perceived negatively by some. The Doughboy’s been described as an unimportant "off the shelf" sculpture on at least one occasion, and its many replications were a factor in rejecting an application to have Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin’s Doughboy in the National Register of Historic Places. (Those at Ft. Smith and Helena, Arkansas are in the National Register, though.) On another occasion, his miniatures were described as nothing more than "bric-a-brac" and he was referred to as a crass entrepreneur. While those are the opinions of some, Viquesney created a sculpture that stands in places of honor across the U. S. and is held in high regard by many people in those locations. While he didn’t receive the credit some (including Viquesney himself) believe was warranted, many fully understand and appreciate his 1927 comment, "This statue, this child of my greatest and most sincere effort, is dedicated to you, to America, to the World…that he may be a constant reminder of all of what real Americanism is, what it does and how it safeguards our homes and our country".
The name, "Spirit of The American Doughboy" isn’t widely known, but "Doughboy" is used to refer it in nearly all locations. At some, it’s also often referred to by another local name. Scranton, Pennsylvania's is often called the "Colonel Duffy Monument." It’s in Duffy Park, named for Major Frank J. Duffy, a well-known Scranton resident killed in the war. Logan, West Virginia’s is also called the "Pete C. Minotti Memorial," after a Logan contractor who was very instrumental in its acquisition and the Doughboy at Wheeling, West Virginia, is locally known as "Lester", named in honor of an actual Doughboy from Wheeling, Wagoner Lester Scott, KIA in WWI. Roselle Park, New Jersey’s is affectionately called "Iron Mike." Four placed by Walter Rylander while he owned the Doughboy don’t have the proper name anywhere on the statue. One of them, the Rylander Doughboy at St. Bernard, Ohio is known locally as the "Soldier’s and Sailor’s Monument".
While some reports have stated that Viquesney Doughboys are located at "hundreds" of courthouses across the country, only 35 actually occur on courthouse grounds. Still, more Viquesney Doughboys are located on courthouse grounds than anywhere else, and it’s believed that during the 1920’s, counties could obtain $1,000.00 from the U. S. Government to help underwrite the cost of a World War memorial. That could help explain the number located on courthouse grounds and the fact that county governments often contributed funds to help acquire Doughboys placed at other sites. Other common sites include city or county squares, parks or common areas, cemeteries, prime intersections, and American Legion or VFW posts. Most are in or near principal local business areas.
Various prices were charged for the Doughboys over time. At first, they ranged from $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 plus freight, excluding the cost of pedestals and installation. By the latter part of the 1920s, prices had increased to the point that some were sold for roughly $1,700.00 to $2,000.00, plus freight. As the depression set in and memories of the war faded, prices fell dramatically. Appleton, Wisconsin’s cost just $700.00 in 1934, a severe depression year. 1934 was also the year Viquesney switched from pressed sheet bronze to cheaper cast zinc to lower the cost of production.
Many Doughboys have suffered from lack of care and maintenance, with the most common problems being staining, corrosion and pitting. Many are missing parts, such as the bayonet, rifle barrel, or entire left hand and rifle, due to a weak fabrication point in the Doughboys’ fused sheets at the left wrist. It was fused to the arm at the cuff and has come loose or been pulled off in many locations. It is also quite common for the barbed wire to be missing, but in some locations it has been removed intentionally for safety reasons. Because of rifles being broken off as a result of people hanging or swinging from them, Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin’s and one of Palatka, Florida’s two Doughboys now hold pistols in their left hands. The other Palatka Doughboy holds three sticks of dynamite.
One of the most readily recognizable features of "Spirit of The American Doughboy" is his upwardly extended right arm with a grenade in the upraised hand. The other is the two stumps at his right front and left rear. His left arm extends downward and his left hand holds a bayoneted 1903 Springfield rifle, pointed forward at about thigh height. He wears a flat steel helmet, trousers bloused above the knee, and puttees (wrapped leggings) below the knees, all of the type worn by Doughboys in World War I. He wears a rectangular bedroll backpack with a bayonet scabbard on the side, a square gas mask pouch on his chest, a cartridge belt, canteen, mess kit, and first aid kit. Since he’s striding, rather than running or charging, his leading left leg is straight. His right leg is bent, and while the right heel is raised, the right toe touches the base. Barbed wire was originally strung loosely around his feet and the stumps, but it’s been removed for safety reasons from some Doughboys and is missing from others for other reasons.
The most replicated version of the Doughboy is of sheet bronze alloy (first of three photos, top) formed by machine die-stamping more than 75 separate pieces which were then welded together over an internal metal frame. This version is hollow and weighs only about 200 pounds. In addition to being much lighter than a true cast statue would be, it was only about 10% as costly as a cast sculpture would have been at the time, which might help explain why so many were placed across the country in the 1920s and 1930s. Ads from various trade publications of the time show that Viquesney's sheet bronze Doughboys were made by Friedley-Voshardt Co. of Chicago, Illinois, and a sample of business correspondence obtained from the Smithsonian Institution indicates that his zinc Doughboys were fabricated by Raphael Groppi Studio, also of Chicago.
Viquesney made several revisions and obtained a new copyright on his Doughboy in 1934 (last of three photos, top). At this time, he also switched from sheet bronze to cast zinc (often copper-plated to make the statue look like bronze). The most noticeable differences are that the knee-high stumps of the 1920 version are significantly shorter on the 1934 version, and also the title "SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN DOUGHBOY" is prominently embossed across the front of the base instead of on the small copyright plate of earlier versions. The copyright on the 1934 version is on the rear of the base. A minor difference is that the mouth on the 1920 version is open to the extent that crooked upper teeth are visible, while the teeth are not visible on the earliest 1934 models (in 1935 and later, the mouth is thinner, and the teeth show faintly). Additionally, the inside of the raised right heel touches the side of the rear stump on the 1920 version. It is raised, but not as high, on the 1934 version, and is separated from the stump.
Viquesney also created a stone Doughboy of marble (center photo, top). The principal visual difference from metal Doughboys is that stone Doughboys don’t have the two stumps. Instead, they have a hip-high tree trunk adjoining the figure at the left rear. While the stone Doughboy with full battle gear was copyrighted in 1922, the first ones known to have been placed as memorials were dedicated in 1930 in Madison, Georgia and Parsons, Kansas. The only other copyright 1922 stone Doughboy known to have been created was placed in Madison, West Virginia in 1938.
Viquesney said he devoted a lot of effort to studying battle gear worn by the Doughboys, and that some veterans posed for him in field uniforms and gear and that he viewed many photographs. That statement is supported by the fact that in a letter he received in April of 1921, his Doughboy was judged in a national American Legion competition of World War memorial sculptures to be a "100% perfect" representation of equipment and gear the Doughboys wore.
Perhaps due to financial difficulties stemming from an impending copyright infringement lawsuit brought on by the owner of rival American Art Bronze Foundry of Chicago, Viquesney transferred all rights to his Doughboy company to Walter Rylander, his friend and business associate in Americus, in January of 1922, and returned to his hometown of Spencer, Indiana by the end of that month. He reacquired his Doughboy company in January of 1926 and never again let it slip from his control. While over 30 Doughboys were placed while Rylander owned the rights, just four have been found with his name on the copyright plate (with no title nor mention of the sculptor's name), and one of those was dedicated in late 1926 after Viquesney had reacquired the rights (this was probably due to the lag time between initial order and delivery; the statue was likely ordered while Rylander still owned the rights and delivered after Viquesney got them back). Rylander copyrights that have been located are at Bolivar and Sedalia, Missouri, St. Bernard, Ohio, and Muskogee, Oklahoma.
It’s frequently been speculated that Rylander was the Doughboy model. He and A. B. Turpin, also of Americus, are known to have been among those who posed for Viquesney in their war gear. Turpin’s 1966 Americus obituary stated he was "the" model, but Viquesney said the face was a composite of many he’d seen personally or in photographs. It’s been erroneously contended in several instances that some local person was the model for the local Doughboy.
The first full-size Doughboy fabricated was actually the second to be placed as a memorial. It was placed in Nashville, Georgia in July or August 1921 after having been entered in the Centralia, Washington competition mentioned earlier, and then displayed in the Rylander Theater and Windsor Hotel lobbies in Americus. While Nashville’s was the first fabricated, its dedication and unveiling was delayed until its cost, and the cost of its impressive tall pedestal, were fully paid in late 1923. By that time about 25 others had been dedicated.
The first Doughboy placed as a memorial was actually the second one manufactured. It was dedicated on the campus of Greenville, South Carolina’s Furman University June 7, 1921. In 2004, after over 80 years of neglect and abuse, it was donated to the History Museum of Upcountry South Carolina and replaced by a cast bronze replica made by sculptor Maria J. Kirby-Smith. Next, Hartford City, Indiana’s Doughboy was dedicated September 28, 1921, then two more were dedicated November 11, 1921, at Americus, Georgia, and Nashville, North Carolina, to bring the total placed in that first year of 1921 to five.
In August of 1921, Viquesney began marketing a cast lead miniature 11-½" Doughboy, followed shortly by a table lamp version, with the bulb socket mounted atop the upraised right hand and a shade clamped on the bulb. The statuettes and lamps were both used as prizes in fundraising raffles, and/or given to the person performing the unveiling, often a mother or close relative of a soldier killed in the war. They were first manufactured and sold by Viquesney's friend and business partner, Walter Rylander, from a back room of Rylander's Ford dealership in Americus, Georgia. The very first miniature Viqueney Doughboy distributed anywhere was won on August 19, 1921 as a raffle or door prize at a Kiwanis Club luncheon by Jack Holst, a lieutenant in the Great War. The first two actually shipped from Americus went free of charge to President Warren G. Harding and General Jack Pershing, commander of the armed forces during the war. There were multiple sizes of miniatures, made of either metal or plaster. Several thousands of miniature Doughboys were made.
Doughboys continued to be erected until 1943, but the frequency declined in the 1930s as the depression set in and as the freshness wore off memories of the war. Viquesney’s last Doughboy was delivered to Verona, Pennsylvania in 1943.
Any report on the number of Doughboys requires some qualifying conditions: Some were destroyed and never replaced; some were destroyed and replaced; some are copies that were cast from molds taken from other existing Doughboys; and some that still exist have been withdrawn from public display due to factors such as vandalism, accidents, or weathering. Viquesney commonly stated that there were "over 300" of his Doughboys placed all over the country, but the exact number of these "originals" will probably never be known; less than half that number are accounted for on this site.
Viquesney promoted Doughboy sales in many ways. Unfortunately, some promotional material contained questionable claims. T. Perry Wesley, the long-time and widely known “Doughboy Searcher" from Spencer, Indiana warned that a degree of skepticism is warranted when information surfaces about things Viquesney said. Mr. Wesley said Viquesney wasn’t dishonest, but apparently didn't always feel the need to fully or carefully explain things, so people sometimes thought what he promised, promoted or described was, or would be, better than it actually was. While he was a very accomplished sculptor, he was prone to exaggerate matters related to his works.
Viquesney distributed brochures to civic and veteran organizations. Some mentioned that he had developed a program they could follow to raise funds needed to purchase Doughboys. He claimed that regardless of how small the organization or local community, his program had never failed where it had been followed. Brochures and advertisements contained coupons that could be mailed to him with a small payment to indicate an interest in purchasing a Doughboy. The fundraising program details and supplies were mailed to the potential buyer when the coupon was received, and the initial payment was deducted from the cost of the Doughboy when it was purchased.
The supplies Viquesney furnished purchasing organizations included a roughly three-feet by six-foot poster with a drawing of a Doughboy on a grid of approximately one-inch squares. Coupons for squares could be sold as entries in a drawing where miniature Doughboys were awarded as prizes. The price for individual squares could be set by reference to how much was needed to be raised after considering funds otherwise raised or available.
Viquesney’s promotional activities, and the fact that so many Doughboys were made, have been perceived negatively by some. The Doughboy’s been described as an unimportant "off the shelf" sculpture on at least one occasion, and its many replications were a factor in rejecting an application to have Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin’s Doughboy in the National Register of Historic Places. (Those at Ft. Smith and Helena, Arkansas are in the National Register, though.) On another occasion, his miniatures were described as nothing more than "bric-a-brac" and he was referred to as a crass entrepreneur. While those are the opinions of some, Viquesney created a sculpture that stands in places of honor across the U. S. and is held in high regard by many people in those locations. While he didn’t receive the credit some (including Viquesney himself) believe was warranted, many fully understand and appreciate his 1927 comment, "This statue, this child of my greatest and most sincere effort, is dedicated to you, to America, to the World…that he may be a constant reminder of all of what real Americanism is, what it does and how it safeguards our homes and our country".
The name, "Spirit of The American Doughboy" isn’t widely known, but "Doughboy" is used to refer it in nearly all locations. At some, it’s also often referred to by another local name. Scranton, Pennsylvania's is often called the "Colonel Duffy Monument." It’s in Duffy Park, named for Major Frank J. Duffy, a well-known Scranton resident killed in the war. Logan, West Virginia’s is also called the "Pete C. Minotti Memorial," after a Logan contractor who was very instrumental in its acquisition and the Doughboy at Wheeling, West Virginia, is locally known as "Lester", named in honor of an actual Doughboy from Wheeling, Wagoner Lester Scott, KIA in WWI. Roselle Park, New Jersey’s is affectionately called "Iron Mike." Four placed by Walter Rylander while he owned the Doughboy don’t have the proper name anywhere on the statue. One of them, the Rylander Doughboy at St. Bernard, Ohio is known locally as the "Soldier’s and Sailor’s Monument".
While some reports have stated that Viquesney Doughboys are located at "hundreds" of courthouses across the country, only 35 actually occur on courthouse grounds. Still, more Viquesney Doughboys are located on courthouse grounds than anywhere else, and it’s believed that during the 1920’s, counties could obtain $1,000.00 from the U. S. Government to help underwrite the cost of a World War memorial. That could help explain the number located on courthouse grounds and the fact that county governments often contributed funds to help acquire Doughboys placed at other sites. Other common sites include city or county squares, parks or common areas, cemeteries, prime intersections, and American Legion or VFW posts. Most are in or near principal local business areas.
Various prices were charged for the Doughboys over time. At first, they ranged from $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 plus freight, excluding the cost of pedestals and installation. By the latter part of the 1920s, prices had increased to the point that some were sold for roughly $1,700.00 to $2,000.00, plus freight. As the depression set in and memories of the war faded, prices fell dramatically. Appleton, Wisconsin’s cost just $700.00 in 1934, a severe depression year. 1934 was also the year Viquesney switched from pressed sheet bronze to cheaper cast zinc to lower the cost of production.
Many Doughboys have suffered from lack of care and maintenance, with the most common problems being staining, corrosion and pitting. Many are missing parts, such as the bayonet, rifle barrel, or entire left hand and rifle, due to a weak fabrication point in the Doughboys’ fused sheets at the left wrist. It was fused to the arm at the cuff and has come loose or been pulled off in many locations. It is also quite common for the barbed wire to be missing, but in some locations it has been removed intentionally for safety reasons. Because of rifles being broken off as a result of people hanging or swinging from them, Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin’s and one of Palatka, Florida’s two Doughboys now hold pistols in their left hands. The other Palatka Doughboy holds three sticks of dynamite.
Links:
(These links contain some images of Doughboys other than by E. M. Viquesney.)
flickr.com/gallery/
flickr.com/courthouselover/sets/
(These links contain some images of Doughboys other than by E. M. Viquesney.)
flickr.com/gallery/
flickr.com/courthouselover/sets/
