Chinese Foo Dogs

This pair of 12cm foo dogs turned up in a mixed auction lot yesterday (I was buying a plate in the lot).
Can anybody tell me what they are made of. They feel like stone and are not resin (tried a hot needle).

sizes differ by a few mm

 

are they jade/jadite? They could be celadon glazed stone.

 

They do look cast to me with the tell tale holes. Might have a large amount of stone powder mixed with resin, not sure though.

 

It is possible I agree. They clink like stone when knocked together

 

Always a problem filling and removing the moulds from undercut areas like a mouth hence teeth don’t get filled with the casting material or get broken off when removing the mould. I’ve sculpted and cast dogs heads so try and avoid open mouths.

 

this is so interesting! Resin mixed with stone powder? Is there a way to test it?

 

Another term is polystone, polyester (resin) mixed with ground stone.

 

I see what you see !!

 

Thanks. I think you have come up with the right answer - Polystone.

 

Noooo! No hot needles. I can't tell you how many ruined collectibles passed through our shop because people thought damaging them with a hot needle was a good idea. I thought folks stopped doing that. Honestly, you're looking for a high value item, so you don't care about the lesser quality. What you don't realize is that the item you poked with a needle is just as valuable in it's own way with collectors of that object. Please find a better way of testing.

 

I understand your concern but I know that these are not special and only put the needle in a hole that was already there.

 

Pure stone would be colder to the touch, I don’t know of any proper test though.

 

Yes, stone and jade are particularly cold. I asked because we had some jewelry come in and it looked like jet or onyx and some labradorite but definitely not cold or with much weight. I called it composite because I just didn't know what it was comprised of.

 

These are cold

 

I didn't intend to sound snarky, but even my Dad used to do it back in the 50s-60s when he had a second hand store. Now that I know better, I cringe.