All about Metal collectables
Today I’m going to have a chat about metal and its part played in the world of collecting English bulldog figurines.
As we all know the only thing to pre date metal as a whole is the stone age and I cannot say for sure if animals were whittled away back then or carved from stone but I do know the Egyptians copied animals using any thing from stone to precious gems as well as Rome and Greece.
Metal pieces have had and still do have a massive hold on the collections market and in our field we are looking at thousands of pieces that can be collecting and this is due to certain metals being popular to use around different eras and as each metal has gone up over the years the styles of metal alloys has changed making the much older pieces investable.
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BRONZES
Nowadays you can spend a few hundred pounds on a bronze figurine where as before porcelain everything was made from this metal because as the time the skills needed were plenty and the raw materials used easy to find so cheap to buy.
One famous foundry out of many was owned by the BERGMAN family headed by the father Fritz who ran the business all his life and eventually passing it on to his son Franz whom is more of a well known name with bronze lovers and collectors alike, Just like most eras you have the rich and the poor so if you could not adorn your houses with beautiful cold painted bronze figurines there were and still are cheaper alternatives made from metals that easy to make shape and in plentiful supply like Spelter Pewter and a Victorian favourite tin.
As the English bulldog was not seen as a distinguished and recognised breed till around 1875 most pieces that you can find were not made for collecting but every day items used in day to day life a few examples would be thimbles inkwells door knockers match vesta pieces with strike fire pokers and so on.
TOYS
Some of the first pieces to be made that depicted the bulldog as an every day pet were the early model railways and dolls houses with John hills lead pieces being some of the most mass produced bulldog pieces made at that time. Its 2015 and we are spoilt for choice the English bulldog is very much loved the world over and is immortalised in every metal possible.
from the rich qualities of gold and silver way back down to iron tin pewter but note these will not be as investable as say pieces from the 1800 1900s but if your in it for the long haul some modern pieces are worth investing in.
TOP TIP: The special pieces that are most investable and need to be found are all the European pieces made before WW1 and the reason for this just like in WW2 every thing was given up and melted down to make things like tanks armour bullets and anything that was metal and needed at the time.
This happened all over Europe and my father once told me that he remembered it happening men would come round and starting ripping down iron railings gates door numbers and boot scrapers, what a shame and a horrible way of destroying pieces that unless copied we will never get to see again.
For those interested in bronzes you can google the Vienna bronze gallery its situated in the USA and you can buy nice quality pieces and learn a bit about the bronze history while there.