Chinese? Cast-From-Life Bronze Crab with Soldered Legs, Unmarked

Found this in Seattle, 1972. The leg had, unknown to me, been glued (I had failed to examine it closely, so excited was I to own it)...and the crudely repaired joint failed soon thereafter.

I've been looking without success for competent restoration help since then. Any suggestions specific to that need will be very much appreciated, and promptly followed up.

Each leg has been separately cast, then joined to the body with what appears to be solder. The lower body and claws are one piece, the carapace is another. I've no way to determine if a lead-based alloy or another material was used in those joints; they're not brazed. The 2 Peking glass eyes go to opaque black under UV light.

~988 grams, ~9" wide, ~2¼" claws. Thanks for looking!

 

That's awesome !!

Reminds me of finding them as bait, and ripping the soft underlings beneath !!

That lifelike

 

Way cool

 

My first job was killing salmon with a truncheon !!!

 

I live where the Dungeness Crab is native, and I've killed & eaten hundreds of 'em. I don't cook them whole, but remove the carapace & viscera, boiling only the 2 body sections with legs an' claws attached. As far as I, and most other folks hereabouts are concerned, it's the only crab. Full Stop.

 

It's a wickedly cool piece

Welcome to the forum by the way, tis like you've always been here !!