Spelter: Does Anyone Know Much About It?

I have a couple of 24" Spelter figurines. Can anyone tell me much about them?

Pics:

 

Any foundry marks on the base or underside?

 

@clutteredcloset49 Unfortunately, no. There doesn't appear to be any markings from what I can see.

 

You may want to add a picture of the underside.

Those are really nice looking, but they are remaking some of these for the decorating crowd.

Wait for others to comment, as I don't know.

 

Are you sure they are spelter, those figures generaly come in zamac...

 

@kristiaan I was told they are spelter, yes.

@clutteredcloset49 The underside is quite unremarkable. All I notice about it is the fact something may have been removed, as some kind of nut at the bottom is visible.

 

They are possibly from a clock garniture.

Spelter is a mainly zinc alloy. relatively low melting point and easy to cast but will not take fine detail like bronze and is mechanically weak, displays a chrystalline appearance if broken and is well nigh impossible to repair.

It is prone to oxidise, and it is usually simple to tell gilt spelter from gilt bronze by the tiny bubbles that appear in the gilding due to oxidation of the underlying material.

It is also by volume lighter than bronze.

It was immensely widely used after the middle of the 19th C. to make cheap versions of ormulu objects for the mass market. Nowadays you will find at least 10 spelter cased clocks for one decent ormulu one.

It is also commonly found with a bronze finish to imitate far more expensive bronze figures. I doubt if it is used much for anything nowadays. It was the plastic copy or its day.

To tell if an item is spelter or ormulu, pick it up and look under the feet or base, wear will usually have left a light colour showing. A scratch somewhere unobtrusibe will show a silver streak compared to a gold colour streak for a bronze. The experienced eye will detect spelter from the tiny bubbles in the finish, and also from the lack of fine detail.
A good bronze would be hand finished after casting, this is not possible with spelter.

 

And that is why we need to see the bottom.

 

They do look like bronzed spelter children figurines. I couldn't find another pair identical to them. The closest I could find are a pair of children done in the manner of Bauchon.
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...0062/lot-d2951e99-db45-48c1-96c3-a59c00e4de4a

Do look closely to the top of the pedestal/plinth they are standing on for a sig. Sometimes a sig. is worked into the wavy top.

--- Susan

 

Circa 1900. Probably were plated or painted originally. Poor man's bronzes. Can't really tell quality from these pics. Many of these were from France.

 

The term 'spelter' was never used in France during the 19th Century. This is 'Zinc 'Art'. It should be obvious from the lack of detail if they are bronze or not. Bronze is finished after casting, whereas Zinc cannot be worked as a material after it cools. So the casting must be as close as possible to perfect (which it always isn't). If it's gilded, Spelter will produce bubbles in the gilt finish.

 

Well, it was nice to see AF alive again for a second