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posted on December 13, 2003 03:36:14 PM new
Have a small old Greco Roman statue of a nude youth 4 in. high -weight 5 oz. Sorry cannot uload pic ( no FTP.) It is solid and appears to be cast. Lots of greenish patima with some visable copper'gold underneath in a few spots. There was a bit of rust on the base so I cleaned it off with rust-oleum and the color turned to a pinkish/red copper color. Think I see 3 faint sprue marks I would like to know if this is bronze or if not what? It is not magnetic so it cannot be iron. Thanks for any help.
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dadofstickboy
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posted on December 13, 2003 03:40:33 PM new
Copper,Brass,Bronze,Gold:
Cannot rust!
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posted on December 13, 2003 04:11:35 PM new
Then perhaps it was not rust and I only thought it was since it cannot be iron. Perhaps the base color on the bottom just darkened underneath or picked up something from an iron object. What is coppery colored metal? I did not think copper was ever cast.
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dadofstickboy
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posted on December 13, 2003 04:27:12 PM new
What is coppery colored metal?
Look at a penny.
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stopwhining
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posted on December 13, 2003 05:01:41 PM new
in recent years there is bronze finish,resin figurine coated with bronze the thickness of orange peel.
if you know a person who does casting of bronze ,he can tell you based on measurement of the item and how heavy it weighs if it is bronze or not,as they know by the size how much bronze is needed.
-sig file -------The thrill is gone!!
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posted on December 13, 2003 05:03:53 PM new
Ok so I will clarify my last question. What is a coppery colored metal that is cast from a mold?
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posted on December 13, 2003 05:20:05 PM new
Ok I remember now the so called cold cast bronze (resin) pieces in the gift shops of dogs etc. but never this subject. Think they all had painted accents. I do see a fine thin line running down the side of one of the legs of this one. Does that mean anything?
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Libra63
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posted on December 13, 2003 09:12:58 PM new
All I can tell you about copper is that it turns green in the air. If you notice some gutters in homes, churches and state buildings have copper somewhere on the outside and with age it turns green.
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paloma91
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posted on December 13, 2003 11:06:36 PM new
my guess is that the metal is copper, atleast on the outside.
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ltray
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posted on December 14, 2003 02:37:05 AM new
Sounds to me like you have a brass statue that has oxidized.Both brass and copper oxidize with air and moisture. Copper would be too expensive for a statue, so most likely you have a brass statue. Neither metal is magnetic. Brassis a compand of copper and zinc so depending upon the ratio of the metals, brass can be deep orange to pale yellow.
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posted on December 14, 2003 01:40:53 PM new
Does brass have very tiny pits and bubbles which can be felt under the finger tips and which makes it feel a little rough when you run your fingers over it.
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Dragonmom
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posted on December 14, 2003 04:06:20 PM new
Well, sure, if the mold was a little rough, the casting will be too. Most molds are a little rough- the heat of the molten metal puts a lot of stress on the surface. A good sculpture *Might* be finished by sanding and polishing the surface till it is smooth before it goes out of the studio. The fine line you see is the mold line. There are two ways a little sculpture like your can be cast- one is a two or three part mold that comes apart when the metal is cooled down, there will be several lines that need to be cleaned away. The other is called lost wax technique and thehre is a FISRT mold, which is poured full of hard wax. Thta mold is usually made out of silicone rubber and it is so flexible that there only needs to be one cut along one side. Out pops the wax version of the sculpture, and that gest put inot plaster. Then the plaster mold gets heated untill the wax melts and runs out- the cavity gets filled with molten metal- and then you have the fun of breaking off the plaster around your new sculpture. You can make as many wax ones as you want, but each plaster mold can only be used once. It's possible that your sculpture is lost wax, since you only see a fine line along one spot.
Aren't you glad you asked! LOL
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with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
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