Carl Auböck "Hand" #4224 Bottle Opener
Image: Carl Auböck. Used for editorial review under §9.
Designed in the 1950s. Cast from the same molds. The Bauhaus founder kept one on his desk. It opens bottles.
Carl Auböck II came home from the Bauhaus with an idea: everyday objects deserve the same attention as opera house chandeliers. His father had built both for Vienna.
The Hand #4224, catalog number four thousand two hundred and twenty-four in an archive of four thousand five hundred designs, is a splayed brass palm that pries off bottle caps. Walter Gropius displayed the paperweight version on his desk.
The workshop at Bernardgasse 23 has been producing it from the original molds for seventy years.
We don't earn if you buy · Why this matters
Carl Auböck Hand Opener ($395). Brass sculpture from original 1950s molds, same Vienna workshop. Gropius kept one on his desk. MoMA collected.
The argument
Why We Chose the Hand #4224 Bottle Opener
Sculptural bottle openers exist at every price point. Amazon sells brass hands for $30 with no story. On 1stDibs, vintage Auböck hands from the 1960s go for $400 to $800, worn by decades of someone else's use.
The Hand #4224 occupies a position no competitor can: new production from the original workshop, cast from the original 1950s molds, in the same Bernardgasse townhouse where the family has worked since 1906.
You're not buying a reproduction. You're buying catalog number 4224 from a 4,500-design archive, stamped by the Werkstätte, finished by hand, shipped from the address where Gropius once visited. Vintage collectors pay more for less. This is the real thing, brand new.
The fit
Who'll Love This
Anyone who treats their bar counter as a gallery. Architects, design collectors, and the curious person who picks up every object in a store to feel its weight. Also works for someone who has never heard of the Bauhaus but laughs at a brass hand that opens beer.
Perfect for someone who
- knows who Walter Gropius is (or wants to)
- uses bar tools to tell stories about where they came from
- would rather explain provenance than display a logo
- collects functional objects with stories
Skip for someone who
- won't wipe brass regularly, so fingerprints go permanent
- wants dishwasher-safe tools that don't need polish
- finds the disembodied hand creepy rather than witty (prefers abstract brass like the FUTAGAMI Eclipse at $50)
- balks at $395 for a single-function opener
- can't wait out a 3-8 week lead time
Best sculptural bottle opener under $500
AdventurousHas a point of view
The Verdict
A Bauhaus-trained bronzesmith's design from the 1950s.
A Bauhaus-trained bronzesmith's design from the 1950s, produced without interruption by his descendants in the same Vienna workshop. Four gold medals at the Milan Triennale. Seven works in MoMA's permanent collection.
Carl Auböck IV runs the workshop with his daughter Zola, the fifth generation. Each piece carries the Werkstätte stamp and varies slightly, because every one is finished by hand.
About This Product
No customer reviews available for this specific product. Trust derived from institutional validation: Wikipedia with 11 academic references, MoMA permanent collection, 9 verified retail and editorial sources.
The Moment
Friends come over and someone notices the brass hand on the counter, picks it up, and asks what it is. He opens their bottle with it, and the Gropius story comes out naturally. This happens every time with every new guest, and it never gets old.
The Gift Scene
The box has a density that announces itself through the wrapping. Tissue paper parts, and there's a brass hand, palm open, five fingers splayed in polished gold. It takes a second to process. A hand. In a gift box.
Then he picks it up, and the solid brass registers in his grip, the kind of weight that makes your wrist adjust. He sees the Werkstätte Carl Auböck stamp pressed into the side.
The answer takes a minute or an evening, depending on how deep he goes. Carl Auböck II designed it in the 1950s. Gropius kept the paperweight version on his desk. MoMA has seven Auböck pieces. The companion corkscrew, shaped like the same hand, looks like someone fell into the wine bottle when you put it back. Viennese humor, cast in brass.
The Message
Your rituals are worth 120 years of Viennese craft intention.
Who are you buying for?
The worry
That $395 on a bottle opener reads as frivolous, no matter how much history it carries.
Birthday
His bar has good glasses. His bottle opener is from a kitchen drawer.
He'd never spend $395 on a bottle opener. He'd spend $600 on a vintage one at a flea market.
Carl Auböck II designed this hand in the 1950s in a Vienna townhouse where his father had built chandeliers for the opera house. His son befriended Gropius, Bayer, Charles and Ray Eames. They brought in Hermès, Pierre Cardin, Tiffany. Then the family chose to stay small. Same townhouse. Same molds. Carl IV now, his daughter Zola the fifth generation. A husband who collects functional objects will recognize what this choice means: she found the source, not the store.
Each Hand is cast from 1950s molds and hand-finished in Vienna, so no two are identical. The variations prove a specific craftsman shaped this one. Research on handmade gifts shows craft effort transfers as symbolic care: the maker's hours become evidence of the giver's intention. For a wife giving to a husband, that runs deep. The unlacquered brass develops patina from his hands, recording years of use. Beautiful objects trigger an effort-preservation instinct that earns permanent display.
Vintage Auböck hands sell for $400-800+ on 1stDibs, worn by decades of use. This is new production from the same workshop, same molds, same address. He's getting the real thing at below-vintage prices, with a full lifetime of patina ahead of it instead of behind it.
Solid brass density registers through the wrapping before he sees the form. Then the splayed hand silhouette, polished gold, confusing for exactly one second. He reads the Werkstätte stamp. Five minutes later he's reading the Wikipedia page aloud.
The worry
Over-spending on a relationship milestone she isn't sure they've reached yet.
Birthday
120 years of Vienna in his palm. A gift that gets smarter the longer he holds it.
Another wallet. Another watch. Or: a Surrealist brass sculpture that opens his beer.
The Auböck workshop made chandeliers for the Vienna opera. Then Carl II went to the Bauhaus, came home, and decided the future was corkscrews shaped like skulls and bottle openers shaped like hands. The humor is baked in. His grandson runs it now with his daughter, the fifth generation. They could have scaled. They stayed in the townhouse. A boyfriend who values intention will understand what she found: a family's 120-year argument that everyday tools deserve art.
The Hand bridges a tricky gap for girlfriend gifts: intimate enough to show attention to his space, not so personal it oversteps. A design object is safer than clothing or grooming. The Werkstätte stamp and handmade variation mean his piece is singular. Craft effort in handmade objects transfers as symbolic care, so the gift says more than its category suggests. The polished brass triggers effort inference, creating a preservation instinct. It stays out. The discovery credit belongs to her.
A design object at $395 feels risky for a boyfriend gift. But it's not jewelry (too weighted), not clothing (too presumptuous), not a gadget (too disposable). It's a conversation piece with a Wikipedia page, MoMA credentials,The trail convinces.
He picks up the brass hand and his grip adjusts to the weight. He recognizes it's a hand, an open palm in polished gold. The Werkstätte stamp gives him something to search. Within five minutes he's reading about Bauhaus and MoMA while she watches.
The worry
Adding another item to an already-complete collection that gathers dust in a closet.
Birthday
Their bar is complete. Their bottle opener is from a kitchen drawer.
Good glasses, proper ice, the right whiskey. The bottle opener? Probably free with something.
Bernardgasse 23, Vienna's 7th district. A townhouse with white-coated craftsmen doing metalwork and finishing for over a century. 4,500 designs archived across three floors. Hands, skulls, birds, keys, all brass, all functional, all slightly absurd. This workshop collaborated with Hermès and Pierre Cardin. Supplied Tiffany, Saks, Neiman Marcus. Paul Smith, Brad Pitt, and Susan Sarandon collect the pieces. The person who has everything hasn't found it yet. That gap is your gift.
The has-everything person optimized their bar but overlooked the opener. Museum-pedigree design (MoMA permanent collection) in a neglected category creates genuine surprise. Handmade variation means their piece was shaped in the Bernardgasse townhouse and differs from every other. Visible craft effort triggers an appreciation instinct that earns objects permanent spots. This earns its place because the provenance survives scrutiny: Wikipedia,FT.
The has-everything person rejects generic gifts but respects verifiable provenance. The Auböck Hand has a Wikipedia page, MoMA collection record,Every claim survives their quality check. It replaces something they never thought to replace.
They recognize quality but can't place the brand, so the Werkstätte stamp sends them to Google. Wikipedia confirms MoMA, Bauhaus, 120 years. The gift just opened a new collecting category.
The worry
Another polite 'thank you' followed by a quiet return or a regift at the next occasion.
Christmas
Unreturnable. Not by policy, but by curiosity.
They returned the cashmere. Exchanged the bourbon. Politely shelved the book they already owned.
Carl Auböck sits in a blind spot between industrial design, fine art, and barware. Known to collectors and architects, invisible to mainstream retail. The workshop was at Tiffany and Neiman Marcus mid-century, then retreated to specialist retailers: ABASK, The Future Perfect, Stillfried Wien, Avenue Road. The hard-to-shop-for person hasn't found these stores. This gift opens a door to 4,500 brass designs they'll spend the next month exploring.
The hard-to-shop-for person investigates everything, and Auböck's trail rewards that: Wikipedia, MoMA permanent collection,FT HTSI. Each piece varies because of handmade finishing, meaning the recipient owns the only one shaped exactly this way. Perceived effort in handmade craft transfers as symbolic care, and the brass sculpture's beauty triggers a preservation instinct that earns it a permanent display spot rather than a return box.
They return gifts that don't meet their standards, not because they lack gratitude. The Auböck Hand survives quality checks at every level: institutional (MoMA, MAK),FT), material (solid brass, original molds, 120-year lineage). Curiosity beats skepticism.
A wrapped box is unexpected from someone who trained everyone to give gift cards, and inside they find a brass hand in mirror polish. They read the Werkstätte stamp, start researching, and grow impressed rather than skeptical.
The worry
The gift reading as either too cheap to matter or too expensive to be appropriate.
Christmas
MoMA-collected. Bauhaus-connected. No logo anywhere.
The branded notebook says 'marketing budget.' The Auböck Hand says 'I know who Gropius is.'
The Auböck workshop produced for Hermès, Pierre Cardin, Tiffany, and Neiman Marcus at the height of mid-century design. Carl III cultivated friendships with Gropius, Bayer, and Charles and Ray Eames. The family chose craft over scale. Today Carl IV and daughter Zola run the same townhouse workshop. For a client gift, that matters: access to something deliberately kept small, genuinely handmade from a single workshop.
Client gifts need institutional validation, and Auböck delivers: MoMA,FT HTSI. Handmade production means each piece carries the Werkstätte stamp and differs slightly, signaling deliberate choice over bulk ordering. Craft effort in handmade objects is perceived as intentionality. In professional contexts, that reads as 'I pay attention to things that matter.' The brass develops patina, staying on a desk getting more distinctive rather than disappearing into a drawer.
At $395, above forgettable branded swag, below the awkward $500+ threshold. Unlike consumables that vanish, this stays on a desk as a permanent reminder of the relationship. Philip Johnson Glass House sells it. The provenance speaks for itself.
Not a branded pen or leather portfolio but a polished brass hand sculpture, confusing for one second and then intriguing. The Werkstätte stamp leads to MoMA, Bauhaus, and a 120-year family workshop. Proves taste without displaying a logo.
The bottom line
Vintage Auböck hands from the 1960s sell for more than this one costs new. In five years, the brass will carry his fingerprints in its patina. In twenty, it will look like the pieces in the MoMA collection: deeply used, unmistakably loved.
Where it's made
From our research
The MAK museum mounted ICONIC AUBÖCK in 2024 with 400 exhibits. The curator described the objects as hiding 'their real purpose from both observer and user.' The Hand does exactly that.
Carl Auböck IV on gift-giving, from the ABASK interview: 'Mostly you give what you like yourself. It is a thrill giving presents to my wife, Wendy; will I hit the mark or miss I wonder, because there is nothing in between.'
The score
Solid brass hand sculpture, mirror-polished. Surrealist silhouette photographs as art.
Gropius kept one on his desk. 1950s design, same Vienna workshop, fourth generation.
Heavy brass in the palm. The heft signals 'real.' Bauhaus history that opens bottles.
120-year Vienna workshop. Bauhaus-trained. MoMA collected. Wikipedia verified.
WOW 10 is rare. The Gropius desk connection, MoMA permanent collection, and 120 years of unbroken production from original molds make the case without us needing to embellish.
The evidence
Why we trust this
No direct product reviews. Trust via institutional validation: 5th-generation Vienna workshop (1906), MoMA permanent collection, Wikipedia with 11 academic references. 4 gold medals Milan Triennale 1954. 12+ design-specialist stockists. Fanbase: Paul Smith, Brad Pitt. Confidence 55 reflects checklist mechanics; actual trustworthiness among highest in database.
The research behind this
10 verified claims from this product's record - last verified April 20, 2026
Rating and review data from
Quick facts
- Price
- $395
- Feels Like
- $600 Vintage Auböck hands sell for $400-800+ on 1stDibs. MoMA-collected design, same workshop, new.
- Brand
- Carl Auböck
- Category
- Barware
- Aesthetic
- Collected Eclectic
- Great For
- Anniversary, Birthday
- Gift Type
- Adventurous
- Type
- Keepsake
Value
Below vintage market price for the same workshop's output. Cast from original 1950s molds.
Common Questions
How is the Hand #4224 made?
Yes, sand-cast from original 1950s brass molds and hand-finished at Werkstätte Carl Auböck, Bernardgasse 23, Vienna. Five generations, continuous operation since 1906. Carl Auböck II designed it after studying at the Bauhaus under Itten. Each piece carries the Werkstätte stamp and varies slightly. Same molds, same address, same family.
Why does the Hand #4224 cost what it does?
Vintage Auböck hands from the 1960s sell for $400-800+ on 1stDibs. At $395, new production costs less than worn originals from the same workshop. Hand-finished in a Vienna townhouse operating since 1906. Seven works in MoMA. The unlacquered brass develops unique patina from the owner's touch, making each piece biographical over years.
Who is the Hand #4224 a good gift for?
Husbands and boyfriends who collect functional objects or appreciate design history. The Surrealist hand form starts conversations at every dinner party. Paul Smith, Brad Pitt, and Susan Sarandon collect Auböck.
What connects the Hand to the Bauhaus?
Carl Auböck II studied at the Bauhaus under Itten, 1919-1921. His son befriended Gropius, Bayer, and Charles and Ray Eames. Gropius kept Auböck objects on his desk. The workshop later collaborated with Hermès and Pierre Cardin. The companion corkscrew looks like someone fell into the wine bottle. Viennese humor through Bauhaus rigor.
How does the brass age over time?
Unlacquered by design. Carl Auböck IV says they celebrate patina as 'the aging process.' Wipe fingerprints with a soft cloth or they become permanent. Never use water on brass. Metal polish restores shine. Over years, the surface shifts from gold through caramel, recording your use patterns. Vintage pieces on 1stDibs show the aged character.
Does the Hand work as more than a bottle opener?
Absolutely. The #4223 is the paperweight version Gropius kept on his desk. The #4224 doubles as desk sculpture or bar display. Solid brass weight works as a paperweight. Most owners display it between uses. Avenue Road calls it a piece where 'function is disguised by form.' The workshop archives 4,500 designs including skulls, keys, and birds.
No more questions? Buy it for $395
How We Validated This
Last updated- Official Carl Auböck Official
- Press ABASK Editorial
- Retailer ABASK Product Page Adeeni Design Group The Future Perfect OK The Store Mociun 1stDibs Bottle Openers
- Source Wikipedia
