Thomas Jefferson would almost certainly enjoy the distinctive way two Midwesterners chose to commemorate America’s 250th birthday.
He’d definitely nod in approval.
Phil Sklar and Brad Novak are the founders of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in Milwaukee, which unveiled the first Declaration of Independence bobblehead set on Wednesday.
“Probably six months or so with the 250th anniversary of America’s founding coming up, we asked ourselves, ‘What could we do that’s unique?’” Sklar said.
The Declaration of Independence set shows Jefferson, last seen rapping on stage with Alexander Hamilton, wearing a red vest, solemnly contemplating whether “liberty” should come before or after “the pursuit of happiness.” On one side of him is Benjamin Franklin, recognizable even without his iconic spectacles and kite, with his hand behind his back. On the other side is John Adams, standing almost as tall as he did in real life. The fourth bobblehead, sitting at the desk with legs crossed, is the second president of the Continental Congress, stoked to affix his literal John Hancock to the finished document.
The sets are numbered 1 through 1,776, and they retail for — that’s right —$176.
The piece is based on John Trumbull’s 1818 painting “Declaration of Independence,” commissioned by Congress in 1817. The scene represents the moment on June 28, 1776, when Jefferson’s draft was submitted to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia for consideration. While Adams and Jefferson wanted all the delegates pictured in the painting, Trumbull was unable to obtain likenesses of all 56 men, so only 42 are shown in the painting that hangs today in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington. A replica of the painting is behind the bobbleheads.
Designing the set produced a few bobbles along the way.
“We tried to get every little detail, from the color of the clothing to the poses to the hand positions, the desk, everything true to form,” Sklar said. “We spent a lot of time trying to get the facial expressions right. No glasses because Franklin wasn’t wearing them.”
Sklar and Novak, friends since middle school, started scouring garage sales in the 1980s and filling the kitchen of their condo with collectibles. The collection has morphed into a 4,000-square-foot museum, with more than 10,000 wacky wobblers on view. While still adding to the collection with vintage finds, they also manufacture their own with a fixation on details.
In the Declaration of Independence set, none of the men is smiling, though they might grin if they knew their collectible was being released on the same day as the museum’s first-ever “Saturday Night Live” set.