Armor Bronze Company Skull on Book Bookends (Pair)
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Item: Pair of Bookends
Make: Armor Bronze Company (Taunton, MA)
Age: 1920s-1930s
Construction: Electroformed Bronze Over Plaster
Dimensions: Each 5" Tall x 5 1/4" Long x 3 3/4" Wide
Condition: Very good pre-owned vintage condition. One has a good deal of paint loss, exposing the bronze beneath. Please see photos.
Details: Bookends or statuettes, each of a very realistic human skull sitting on a heavy book with bookmark. One exhibits a couple small chips and one nearly exposed tooth. The other displays significant paint loss, exposing the bronze and adding to the macabre appeal. Both pieces retain the original green velvet lining on the bottom, with the original shield-shaped Armor label, printed in gold on a bronze background, "ARMOR BRONZE CO. TAUNTON, MASS. ARMOR GOODS OF MERIT U.S.A. BRONZE BY MASTER CRAFTSMEN".
These bookends appeared in the Armor Bronze catalog of 1922. Armor Bronze was a well-known manufacturer of quality objects, including bookends, using a technique known as electroforming. Alternately referred to as bronze clad, bronze-armored or weighted bronze, they began as a plaster cast of the original sculpture. This cast would be sprayed with an electrically conductive solution, then hung in a tank of plating liquid. Electrical current would be run through the cast via a wire embedded in the base. This process continued for several until the desired weight of plating was completed, followed by any finishes necessary for the design.