This Hummel Carefree figurine was released in the US market in the fall of 1996 with an incised copyright date of 1988 and a TM8 trademark. A companion piece to Hummel #564 Free Spirit, it is part of the Cozy Companions series. This handcrafted Hummel figurine comes direct from the world's only authorized producer of Hummel designs. Every piece is back-stamped by Goebel and carries the M.I. Hummel signature. M.I. Hummel products are the result of a successful partnership between W. Goebel Porzellanfabrik (German for porcelain factory) and the talented German artist, Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel. Her paintings of youthful innocence have been transformed by the master artists of the Goebel factory into three-dimensional works of art. Every new Hummel figurine is created using a painstaking process involving over 700 hand operations with many quality checkpoints. Don't let this one pass you by!