Is this spelter?

Pfft of course it is

Ziggy is our newest arrival, we've only had him a couple of weeks. Our other two - also rescue cats - are long hairs as well

Going back to the figure, the clock topper theory is interesting but I'm not convinced. For one thing it would have to have been an absolutely huge clock. But also the inch-high skirt around the base feels like something that wouldn't make sense visually if the figure was designed to sit on the top of a clock. I'd have thought that a clock topper would be designed to sit more flush, if that makes sense.

Having said that I am considering getting a wooden plinth made for it though, as I think it might show it off better.

 

You had me confused there.

Ian, apologies for giving Ziggy more attention than your sculpture. His beauty is distracting, especially for me, I used to have a Norwegian forest cat.

 

No problem, as long as not every reply is about cats then I don't mind

Norwegian forest cats are very beautiful. My partner's family live in Norway in a fairly rural area, and they do get quite a lot of cats around that are basically living in the wild. They'll come to the house for food if it's going, but aren't used to living around people and won't approach them directly. They seem to be very much a mix of breeds though, and not the long-haired "forest cat" that people associate with that name.

 

OK sorry for the delay, I did a scratch test on the underside of the base and it came out as a shiny silver, so that bit at least would seem to be definitely spelter:



Having said that though, it's clear that the piece is made from a number of parts. And therefore the more prominent sections could still be made of something else (it seems logical to me that if you were going to use spelter for anything then it would be the base itself.) As you can see from the original photos, some sections - such as the dog's front legs - show a gold / brass colour coming through underneath the darker surface. Obviously I haven't scratch tested these areas (and don't intend to), but surely in those areas the colour coming through would be the colour of the metal itself? Unless that is there are several layers of finish and I'm only seeing through the topmost one.

 

I doubt that if something was made of brass or bronze that they would mount it on such a soft inexpensive metal as spelter.

It most likely is bronze coated spelter.

 

My late lamented Bear was a part Wegie..... or possibly even pure.