German hand carved bookends

[kerliv]

I have a pair of hand carved book ends which belonged to my great grandmother but the only marks on them are the words ges. geschutzt which I believe is a kind of German copyright marking. I'd like to find out more about them but have no idea how old they are or where they came from so if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate your help.

[heathfield]

The 'ges.' is an abbreviation for 'Gesellschaft', which means 'Company'. 'Gesch�tzt' means 'Trademarked' or 'Protected'. As to age, an antique dealer might be able to tell you. As to origin, the Black Forest area has been churning out wood carvings for centuries. But they could be Austrian, too