Original Item: Only One Available. This is an original WWII era U.S. home front Anti-Axis “Hotzi Notzi” propaganda pin cushion, marked on the underside of the base PAT. PEND 1941 CPE. Made from painted plaster with an applied cotton bound batting filled pin cushion, it retains most of its original hand painted finish and even includes seven pins of varying sizes still inserted into the cushion.

The underside of the base is marked:

PAT. PEND 1941 CPE

indicating that the design was being produced under a patent pending status in 1941. Other surviving examples have been reported with information indicating a November 17, 1941 patent filing date, less than a month before the United States entered WWII following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The piece is therefore an interesting example of American Anti-Axis popular culture already circulating immediately before formal U.S. entry into the war.

The figure is cast from plaster and hand painted, with most of the original paint still present. The pin cushion itself is formed from cotton bound fabric over a batting filled core. These were inexpensive novelty items when made and were relatively fragile, which helps explain why complete surviving examples are not commonly encountered today.

The figure measures approximately 4 5/8" tall, 3 3/8" long, and 2 1/4" wide. Seven pins of various sizes remain inserted into the cushion.

These originally carried a paper tag tied around the neck, though the tag is missing from this example. Surviving examples record the tag text as:

Hotzi Notzi
Its good luck to find a pin
Here’s an “Axis” to stock it in

with the reverse reading:

He who seeks to stick others-
Himself gets stuck in the end.

With its PAT. PEND 1941 CPE marking, surviving hand painted plaster finish, original style pin cushion, seven inserted pins, and unmistakable Anti-Axis home front theme, this is a distinctive piece of American WWII era propaganda and novelty material culture. The original paper neck tag is missing, but the principal figure and cushion remain present and display well. It would fit especially well in a WWII U.S. home front, propaganda, Anti-Axis, wartime novelty, or broader American social history collection.