Sabbath Statuettes Auction for Solihull Hospital
There are not many bands in the vast rock kingdom that have been immortalised by erecting statues in their image. In the case of Black Sabbath, an artist from Poland who is a devoted fan of the band, decided to make a difference.
Building full-sized statues of the Sabbath boys for Birmingham’s Victoria Square may not be possible, but talented Maciej Hrycyna has created a unique set of highly detailed, realistic resin statuettes standing about 9 inches high. All of them are accurate on a 1:8 scale to each Sabbath member’s exact height.
Maciej says that his first creation was the mighty Tony Iommi: Posed on a round base with a gold painted Henry figure, the one and only Iron Man is dressed from top to toe in black. As during “The End” tour he wears a leather jacket, black tight trousers, boots with laces and holds the legendary black Gibson SG axe. The guitar has all 6 strings and Tony’s fingers are placed on the fretboard. Last but not least, Tony wears a pair of his signature glasses as well, will shows the amazing attention to detail. The statuettes pose and facial features are made so faithful to the original, you get the impression you’re looking at Tony himself!
Happy with his creation, Maciej then gave birth to miniature versions of Geezer Butler, Ozzy and Bill Ward. His idea was to make the whole original band, keeping in mind the upcoming 50-year anniversary of their career. Geezer is represented with his signature bass, in a leather outfit exactly as during the last tour. A long black overcoat adorns Ozzy Osbourne’s figure and he is pictured in his classic frontman pose, with his arms symbolically embracing the crowd of fans; a gesture that basically sums up the band’s spirit and attitude. Then there’s our beloved Bill who, with a “Black Sabbath” inscribed bass drum at his feet, salutes the fans with a V sign. Bill wears the original aluminium cross (he is the only one who still has this gift from Ozzy’s father - this tiny detail makes the statuette even more precious).
Maciej’s love for Black Sabbath inspired him to create this original set of statuettes but he has also decided to auction off some of them to fans in order to raise funds for Solihull Haematology and Oncology day Unit, in Solihull Hospital, West Midlands, recently opened by Tony Iommi who made several personal donations and gave funds raised by various events held by him over the last five years.
Each statuette was numbered and had the date of completion on it’s base. It was only possible to acquire the full set of four band members, Tony, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill.
Tony Iommi's guitar tech Mike Clement kindly agreed to help with the auction.
The auction took place in facebook group "Tony Iommi - the Man, the Master, the Legend" on 29 August 2018, and Edward Bransky won his set for 1050$ alas 781,80BP. Biggest thanks to Mike Clement, who kindly delivered the money to the hospital, and informed Tony himself.
Tony published the followed message on his social networks:
"Many thanks to everyone who bid for Maciej’s models, Karen who ran the auction and especially the winner, Edward Bransky. GBP£781.80 has gone to the Cancer Unit at Heartlands Hospital."
Thank you very much, dear Tony, for inspiring us, we are One True Family, and together we hold the Iommi banner high and proud!
11 September 2018
