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Universal statuary corp top 5 facts
Universal Statuary Corp. was a Chicago based statue manufacturer. Jack and Leo Lucchesi founded the Universal Statuary Corp. The company produced piggy banks, plaques and (by the late 1930s) they large store displays including Indian statues. The company employed many immigrant artisans to design the chalkware and plaster figures and produce the statues.
The company employed plastic in the 1970s. The Lucchesi family sold the company in the early 1980s. James L. Dorman owned the company in the late 1980s and it was headquartered in Milwaukee. The company employed about 130 people in Chicago in the late 1980s.
Collectors provide a market for resale of the statues, but they are not generally valued highly in monetary terms. In 1996 the company was owned by B. Paul Brueggemeier and was having to leave its factory at 850 North Ogden to make way for a town house development.
The company also made lawn ornaments from resin and bookends. Statuettes featured whimsical figurse of animals or children and were sold at Sears and other outlet stores.