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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;all_fakes, post: 218955, member: 55&quot;]I was surprised to find, while researching some nativity sets, that the &quot;hand-carving&quot; is &quot;machine-aided.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; I had noticed that the prices were quite reasonable for hand-carved wood items from Europe, and that the designs were surprisingly uniform.</p><p>Most of the web-sites try to minimize the machine aspect, but some verify that the original carving is reproduced in brass, and then a pantograph carving machine roughs out the figures.&nbsp;&nbsp; Only the final carving and painting is actually done by hand.</p><p><br /></p><p>This appears to be true of all the major lines, Lepi, Bernardi and ANRI, to name a few.&nbsp; See <a href="http://www.anri-woodcarvings.com/creation-of-anri-figures/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.anri-woodcarvings.com/creation-of-anri-figures/" rel="nofollow">http://www.anri-woodcarvings.com/creation-of-anri-figures/</a></p><p>You have to read between the lines to get the full picture; &quot;The best master wood carvers are then hired to carve in wood or to mould the first model, which is made of bronze, in order to make a durable tool. From these prototypes, special models are prepared so that each figure can be accurately duplicated.&quot;(By tool they apparently mean the pattern used to guide the pantograph carving machine), as &quot;the first step in the carving process, cutting the contours, is mechanically aided.&quot;</p><p>So yes, they are hand-carved, sort of.&nbsp; &nbsp; And I&#039;m not sure at what point in history the carving began to be &quot;mechanically-aided.&quot;&nbsp; I imagine that some of the oldest ones are indeed entirely hand-carved.&nbsp;&nbsp; But a modern one......not really.</p><p>(Some of the web sites proudly mention that the machine is guided by hand, so they are indeed hand-made.&nbsp;&nbsp; But as I&#039;ve learned with native items, &quot;hand-made&quot; is not synonymous with &quot;hand-carved.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; And even &quot;hand-carved&quot; can be fudged......)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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