Featured Garuda bell

I have bought this very heavy bell and wondered if it is old at all. If anyone knows the age love to hear it.

 

It is a very nice 19th century Indian Pooja bell. Pooja or Puja is a Hindu purification ritual to honour divinities.

 

Oke thank you. How can you tell the difference between a 17th or 18th or 19th century bell. or did they only make this type in the 19th century?

 

It is a type that was made over a long period of time, but I look at the natural wear, especially on the bottom rim.
The rim on your bell has natural wear, which always looks more 'velvety soft', for lack of a better term, than artificial wear. The wear looks first half of the 19th century to me.
So a nice age.

 

It has quite allot of wear, it has flat smooth wear on the flat rim of the bell but also alot of knocks on the rounded egde of the rim

 

Yes, the wear is beautiful, and consistent with daily use over a long period of time.
Every time it was handled, used and put back down, a microscopically tiny part was worn away. All those daily bits of wear add up to what you see now, they are testimony to its age.

 

Great looking piece! Nice find

 

It looks bronze. At least the top part does. Nice piece.

 

Yes it is very heavy bronzen but it has been coated by sigare nicotine and the owner smoked heavely i asume.

 

how can i clean off safely the nicotine?

 

I'm not sure I see any nicotine staining. Where do you see it?

 

Looks like aging and patina to me. It looks a bit dusty and grimy. A bit of soapy water should clean off anything that needs to be removed.

 

well it has a brown coating on it all over and smells of nicotine. But it can also be incens residu. but i think i will leave it alone. It's all part of the history of the piece.

 

this bell form christies has the same type of clapper and is dated 17th-18th century
https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/arts-asia-online/bronze-bell-garuda-67/213948

 

show it to Christies then, and report back here to tell us what they think !!

 

Yes, the clapper is the same, it is a pretty generic and basic execution that works well. You can see the same clapper on recently made bells and on bells that are even older than the Christie's bell.
I also have the same clapper on my 19th century Dutch Evangelist bells, but that doesn't make yours a Dutch Evangelist bell.
However, every other detail of the Christie's bell is different from yours, as is the wear and patina. The body of the Christie's bell, so the bell part itself, is a different shape from yours. For instance the bottom flares out, the one on yours is much more straight.
While your bell is of good quality, the handle of the Christie's bell is made with greater artistry, and in a different style from a different region from yours.

As I said before, yours is of a type that was made over a long period of time. So while the Christie's bell is different from yours in every way except the very generic clapper, there are probably bells out there that are the same model as yours but a century older. That doesn't change the age of yours.

There are many antique Pooja bells, and people will pay for good examples like yours.
If you want to find the value of yours, it is best to look at bells that are the same style and age as yours.

 

My meager contribution to this thread. Pooja, Garuda...but no clapper. ~8 1/2" tall, 2 5/8" across the wings, ~3 3/4 bell diameter; weight is ~19 oz.The clapper fitting isn't an iron staple, but cast in place.
The contrast between the care shown in the finish of the bell, an' the crudeness in the Garuda casting is puzzling to me. The wear at the bell rim suggests age, an' use...does anything about it indicate region, or age? Thanks for lookin'!

 

Whit, I have to go now. If I don't look at it tomorrow, will you remind me?

 

Thank you...yes, I will, AJ.

 

We could have our own bell ringers association.