Here we have a quite scarce vintage artisan hand-made 1:12 miniature dollhouse pair of 24K gold-plated "Cupid Candlesticks #360, with Candles" from the estate of Hank Kupjack, the son of the legendary miniaturist Eugene Kupjack, who worked alongside his father at Kupjack Studios in Oak Park, Illinois. Pieces from both artists were mixed in together when the estate of Hank was offered up for auction. As is typical with these candlesticks, they are unsigned, but they are well known as one of the various gold-plated luxury decor pieces that Eugene created for display in the front shop window of the Gold Room (see our store for the Gold Room and other pieces belonging to it, which we are in the process of listing -- check back often!)  

Materials: There are no marks indicating the exact nature of the materials used in the creation of this piece. Typically, Kupjack's silver-toned metal pieces were Sterling Silver, and his gold-toned metal pieces were a 24K gold wash or  plating added to a Sterling Silver piece. This piece has not been tested for either silver or gold, and is offered as a authentic Kupjack silver-tone or gold-toned piece.  

Vintage: circa 1950-1990

Maker/marks: Eugene Kupjack/as is typical of his candlesticks, unsigned

Approximate measurements: 1 3/8" height, candlestick only; with candle, height is just a tad under 2"

Condition: Our photographs reveal the condition best -- please enlarge and zoom in on them, and examine them carefully. Very fresh and clean pieces in excellent condition, with a few rubs to the gold, as shown in the photos. Otherwise, no marks, scratches, breaks, repairs, cracks, chips, etc. Bright and shiny surfaces. Both stand well without wobbling.

Shipping: The insurance cost alone for this package is $6.05. We do our best to provide the lowest shipping rates by giving you as many choices as possible. You can find all of the rates available to you by scrolling to the Shipping section below (if on the app/a cell phone) or by clicking on the "SEE DETAILS" link to the right of the "Shipping" amount noted next to the photos (if on the browser/computer version.) These are the only ways to view all of your shipping options (including their costs and arrival dates.) 

We consider funky odors (cigarette smoke, mildew, etc) to be an important part of a condition report. Corndogcache is a 100% non-smoking environment, and we'll let you know if any of our vintage items smell like it (or anything else) from activities they may have been involved in before they came to us.

The Fine Print:
  • We expect payment within 1 day of purchase. If you're waiting for other auctions to end so that you can combine shipping, shoot us a message to let us know.
  • If you're unable to pay within terms, please reach out with your Plan B. Things happen. Especially these days. So just shoot us a message.
  • We don't accept buyer-remorse returns but we will grant you the use of our description and photos so that you can re-ebay the item yourself.
  • Although we don't accept buyer-remorse returns, reach out if you're unhappy with your purchase! If we messed up -- everybody does -- give us a chance to fix it. We promise it was unintentional, and we'll do what we can to make it right.
Eugene Kupjack's obituary, as published in The New York Times, November 16, 1991 edition:

"Eugene J. Kupjack, who produced the 30 American miniature rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, died on Nov. 8 at Resurrection Hospital in Chicago. He was 79 years old and lived in Park Ridge, Ill.

He died of congestive heart failure, his son Henry said.

Mr. Kupjack's miniature rooms at the Chicago museum -- 30 shadow-box settings ranging in style from the Colonial period to Art Deco -- were widely admired when they first went on public view at the 1939 World's Fair. The rooms were designed by Narcissa Niblack Thorne, widow of James Ward Thorne, a Montgomery Ward & Company department store heir, who sent them to the Art Institute after the fair closed in 1941, and eventually donated them to the museum.

Before attending a memorial service for Mr. Kupjack at the museum yesterday, Marshall Field 5th, chairman of the museum, said by telephone that the rooms had been on view at the museum most of the time for 50 years and "they remain one of our most popular exhibits."

Mr. Kupjack went to work for Mrs. Thorne in 1937. After reading an article in Life magazine about the European-style miniature rooms she had devised using antiques, he sent her, unsolicited, a miniature chair with a cane seat and a plastic plate and goblet he had made.

"Mrs. Thorne telephoned my father," Henry Kupjack said yesterday. "She asked him how he knew she couldn't find any canework and where he had bought the glass plate and goblet. My father told her the plate and goblet weren't glass but Lucite -- plastic. And she replied, 'How would you like to come and work for me.' "

Mr. Kupjack was born in Chicago, where he attended art classes at the Art Institute for a decade, beginning when he was 8 years old. He attended Crane College. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant commander and commander in the Office of Naval Research in Washington, making orthopedic instruments, 13 of which are patented. In Museum Collections

After he left the Navy in 1948, he worked mostly for Mrs. Thorne until shortly before her death in 1966. In 1959, he was commissioned by the American Institute of Decorators to produce 17 miniature rooms, copies of important settings designed by such interior decorators as William Pahlmann and Mrs. Henry Parish 2d.

Mr. Kupjack went on to produce more than 700 period-style miniature rooms from his studio in Park Ridge, working for corporations and collectors seeking traditional rooms with doll-house-scale furnishings one-twelfth normal size. His rooms are in the collections of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum in Delaware, the Forbes Magazine gallery in New York City and the Palm Springs Desert Museum in Palm Springs, Calif.

In addition to his son Henry, of Chicago, Mr. Kupjack is survived by another son, Jay, of Park Ridge, and a brother, Raymond, of Sante Fe, N.M.