THRIFT STORE FIND - ANTIQUE BRONZE VASE ON STONE BASE

We have others who know about this aspect but can say that magnets only stick to ferrous metals, ones that have iron in them. Neither spelter, bronze nor brass contain iron, to the best of my feeble knowledge. They do all contain some amount of copper; the verdigris here & there on your piece indicates it also includes copper. Yours is certainly more gold colored than we're seeing on some of the others.

 

I see him as a priest. I can't tell for certain whether the shaft is meant to go all the way down to the ground; it would then look like a bident, a symbol of Hades. It looks more to me like it just has a short handle. I don't recognize it as any actual ancient ritual item but will observe that a crescent moon is one of Diana's symbols & that's how it first struck me. It's not entirely out of keeping to have the goddess present at a sacrifice in her own temple. The modeler(s) behind these played rather fast & loose with the conventions.

 

The seller of the lamp on 1st dibs has 9 photos, annoyingly, all of the same side. Copied this photo of journey's lamp down to here for easier comparison:




Same cast of characters, different modeler & maker.

 

I think he can be if you want him to be. This man appears to be presiding over a ceremony, not prophesying. Depictions of Tiresias usually show him in the act of witnessing what led to his being struck blind or changed into a woman. The one blind figure you do see is Homer; there are clues to his sightlessness. I doubt very much the first designer of these figures had that much grounding in mythology or neoclassical art.

 

It has a metallic sound if I tap it with a key or a spoon - does shelter have a metal feel/sound?

 

OK, what do I title this in a listing? Antique Neoclassical Spelter lamp base on base - now a vase? Urn?
Again thanks for the help on this one!

 

Whoah
I was just gonna throw in a va-va-voom
But that got intense!
Intensely fun and informative

 

Did you try to see if a magnet attracts to any part of it?

 

Having never tapped either shelter or spelter with a key, I'm guessing at this, but, since it is metal, I expect spelter would sound like metal, but would not ring the way bronze or brass might.

 

Scratch it in an inconspicuous area. Spelter will be silver. Most mid-century lamps are pot metal. Let me add, you need to get past the plating so put some force into the scratching process.