A genuine Indian emerged from the floods of the great river near Hainburg in the district of Bruck an der Leitha. The rare “Linde” figure was discovered and salvaged by a passionate angler.
“He wasn’t a friendly fellow. Because my find is Avat-kuts, the bloodthirsty Comanche chief from Karl May’s novels. Translated from the Indian, that means something like ‘white buffalo’ – which sounds harmless,” Michael Winter smiles in view of the strange fellow who “somewhere in the Wild West” had sprung from a packet of lime tree coffee and is now on the winding paths on the banks of the Danube near Hainburg was washed ashore. Winter discovered the amazingly well-preserved “Linde” manderl during a very personal garbage collection campaign.Toys hidden in the coffeeOn the history of the figures that were once so coveted by children who are now adults: Toys were rare in the post-war period, which is why the business idea was born to add toys to malt coffee to attract new customers. However, the popular collector’s items could only be found in packages for the Austrian market. At the end of 1973, the company was taken over by Nestlé, and the era of the detailed cowboys, Indians and animals made of plastic was over. Now the passionate Petrijünger from Bruck an der Leitha has placed his chief on a pebble as the lonely “Guardian of the Danube”. So that he may long peer at the waves…
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