Another mystery solved

Back in May, I posted about a trashcan I saw listed on eBay as a "Mid Century Atomic Mategot Style Tin Wire Trash Can Bin" and priced at $159. At the time, I didn't know who designed the trashcan, but I was able to determine with a reasonable degree of certainty that it wasn't designed by Mathieu Matégot, and his designs became the focus of that post. My daughter and SIL have an identical trashcan that they got free at an estate sale, and I also offered the opinion at the time that "free" was probably a more realistic price than $159, but now I'm not so sure about that.

wantcy.com

I was looking at my copy of Ann Kerr's Collector's Encyclopedia of Russel Wright for yesterday's post, and on page 4 of the Acknowlegements, there is was! The trashcan! Kerr had included this copy of a 1953 Richards Morgenthau/Raymor ad:

Richards Morgenthau/Raymor ad
Collector's Encyclopedia of Russel Wright  by Ann Kerr

The ad read, "These famous names and brands have identified Richards Morgenthau as America's outstanding distributor of contemporary gifts and decorative accessories." And right there, along with designs by Ben Seibel, Tony Paul, George Nelson, Paul McCobb and Russel Wright was a picture of the trashcan identified as having been designed by "Dick Galef" for Ravenware.

Close-up of the 1953 Richards Morgenthau/Raymor ad 

I just love a mystery with a totally unexpected ending. I bet my daughter and SIL will like this one too. And maybe now that they know what they have, they'll quit filling it with dirty diapers!

Update 8/12/11: Jonathan Goldstein had lunch with Richard Galef yesterday and learned some things I need to pass on to you. First of all, according to Galef,  he has never gone by "Dick," so why he was referred to as such in the Morgenthau/Raymor ad is yet another mystery. Also, this trash can, included in my original post, is a design by Galef for Ravenware, not by Mathieu Matégot, as it was incorrectly attributed.

architonic.com

We all know that, 50+ years after the fact, sellers and bloggers today are going to make mistakes in identifying pieces/designers and that the misinformation is then perpetuated by exposure on the Internet, which is why I post corrections as soon as new information comes to my attention. That poses a serious problem for today's collectors, for if even the ads and brochures that came out back then contain information that is less than factual, what will we do after there's no one left from that era to set us straight?