Wonderful single bookend of a circus elephant, standing 3-legged on a ball which rests on a cushion. I love the creases in the pillow and the tassel trim around its edges. There are markings on the back side of the base, probably artist initials but I can’t make them out. Bronze-clad, a manufacturing process by which a skin of bronze was deposited on a plaster form through electro-plating. A handful of companies used this method in the early 1900s to make decorative household objects that had the look, feel, and heft of solid bronze yet were affordable by the middle class. No maker’s mark but I have seen an ashtray with this same elephant as the decorative element, and that ashtray is signed Armor Bronze and dated 1928. No breaks in the cladding, nothing dented or mashed. I have provided a close-up of where the feet meet the ball to show there are no cracks in what often is a fragile junction in such a design. The tusks are ivorine, original and undamaged. The red color probably is not original but if that is true, it does look old based on the wear. The ball shows some chipping but, overall, a surprising amount of the white paint remains intact. The piece sits flat and stable. PLEASE NOTE: camera flash makes the red look a bit brighter than it appears in natural light. 8 1/2 inches tall; base is 4 1/4 inches X 3 1/2 inches. Heavy at a bit over 4 pounds. Perfect gift for the lover of this intelligent, social, threatened creature. Which should be all of us. I pack with care. The item “Antique circus elephant pachyderm single bookend Armor Bronze clad, orig tusks” is in sale since Friday, February 5, 2021. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Decorative Collectibles\Book Ends”. The seller is “joncris4q8″ and is located in Glastonbury, Connecticut. This item can be shipped to United States.
- Featured Refinements: Bronze-clad Bookend
- Handmade: No
- Modified Item: No
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
