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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: trichards on August 16, 2012, 09:26:49 am
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I have what I understand is an antique figurine of a reclining deer. It is 6 inches long and 5 inches tall. It sits on a carved wooden base. On the underside it has the numbers 003 carved and the letters Nl. It was once owned by an antiques dealer in St. Louis and was given to me after his death. I have looked for any similar figurine online and found nothing. I am hoping someone here will know something about it.
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Is the deer figure also made of wood or just the base and if not wood what is the deer made of??
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And please take a pic of the underside where the marks are !! Is that NL or NI ??
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The figurine is not wood. It has the density of metal. I have not tried to scratch the surface because I do not want to damage it.
I am not sure if it is obvious in the picture, but there are several places on the deer that there are three joined circles. One group is on the exposed part of the neck in the picture.
I am adding a picture of the bottom.
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Appears to be some type of resin. It looks from the photos you have a chinese spotted deer made of handcrafted resin kinda like this piece.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chinese-Resin-Handcraft-Riding-Monk-Statue-WK1459-/310110669063?pt=Asian_Antiques&hash=item4834094907
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That bottom pretty much says resin of some type,, not wood !!
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It could be made of Lignum-Vitae...which is the the only wood that does not float as its density,is similar to metal,if you take a scraping from the under side then heat them, if they melt its resin but if they don,t then it is probably Lignum,...over here this wood was used to make small bowling balls,...not ten pin,..the other kind,...bowling green,or carpet bowls,
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"the other kind,...bowling green,or carpet bowls,"
I'm sorry, but our internationally-oriented forum does not recognize this as bowling ;)
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Well, there,s Cricket....lots of bowling there,...similar principle...knock down some bits of wood,..big scores,..but No under hand balls allowed!..... ;D
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And I thought you meant "Bocce Balls". ;D
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Just giving you a hard time, Wull. ;)
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It may be made of resin, but it is heavy, and it appears to be hand carved. I do not have a proper scale to weigh it, but it exceeds the 2 pound limit on the postal scale.
Attached is another picture showing the marks on the back side of the antlers.
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Here is a close-up of the head.
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As bigwull suggested scrape (cut) a tiny amount from a hidden spot & put a flame (outside in a safe manner) to it if it melts question answered.
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Why would someone carve only the back of the ears and not the main body or the front ?? I think it was possibly molded and those marks are just trim marks !! Wouldn`t do it on the front because that would mess up the look of it so trimming was done on the back !!
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The cut marks behind the antlers are part of the carving process. The surfaces that are seen are polished to eliminate the cut marks. That would be true if it was an original piece. A molded piece would carry those marks too but would also have seams where the mold was fitted together. Those seams would either be in evidence or would have to be polished away. There are no seams on this piece.
If this piece is a molded piece of resin, shouldn't there be others like it? Has anyone ever seen a figurine like this?
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Are you by any chance in California ??
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First I have a large resin piece (for about 20 years now) made in China and I have yet to find a piece just like it , I have seen many figures like this not deer but many other animals here are 2 examples
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Resin-Black-Jaguar-Panther-lg-figurine-statue-/320734977408?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aad4b5d80
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HORSE-STALLION-Sculpture-Statue-Animal-Home-Decoration-BLACK-Resin-NEW-450-/280939601953?pt=Art_Sculpture&hash=item41694e2021
As bigwull suggested scrape (cut) a tiny amount from a hidden spot & put a flame (outside in a safe manner) to it if it melts question answered.
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Or do the hot pin test !! And as Wendy and I can tell you,, it really doesn`t matter if you have the only one like it in existance,,that will not make it valuable to any great extent !! In order for an item like that to be of great value there needs to be a collector base, past sales records and a signature to prove who made it !! Some items are so unique and are limited in number that even without a signature it can be attributed to a single person !! Like furniture for example which is rarely signed but when you see enough of that style,, you know who made it !! But without that its still just a piece of old furniture and isn`t worth near as much !! I know you want it to be an expensive and rare piece but I wouldn`t hold my breath if I were you !! Still its a nice piece with a bit of a deco look and would good on anyones shelf !!
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I want to thank everyone for their help. I was interested in knowing more about the figurine. I intend to keep the piece. I was not trying to establish a value. And, no, I am not in California. I live in Kentucky.
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Was just curious !! Found several items with materials similar to yours that were made in northern CA !!