Television Tower sculpture, turned patinated copper, 55 cm, 1960s

Turned from a single shaft, the tower rises 55 cm high—not a souvenir, but a serious table sculpture that captures the silhouette of post-war television towers with calm precision. The dark burnished copper shaft supports three set-off platform rings whose polished edges emerge like narrow bands of light, below which is the typical central tower basket widening and above it all the needle-fine antenna tip. The form is clearly based on the Stuttgart TV Tower from 1956—the world's first reinforced concrete TV tower, which became the iconic model for a whole decade of German transmission towers.

The piece rests on a shallow, also dark burnished, dish base and, at 55 cm high, is an exceptionally large example of this object class—most comparable pieces are 30–48 cm. Its weight and material density suggest a solid turned piece, probably a journeyman's masterpiece from a metalworking profession (turner, toolmaker, or model maker) from the 1960s—such pieces were made in German training workshops as master's or journeyman's pieces and are today considered rare testaments to post-war craftsmanship. On a credenza, a sideboard, or as a solitaire on a desk, the tower immediately makes an impression: vertical, calm, with the warm copper tone that shimmers depending on the light.