Chats on Old Copper and Brass

The collectable curios in metal include many which cannot be classified. They are isolated specimens of copper and brasswork representing some special household utensil or works...

A collection of metal-work representative of domestic utensils as they were fashioned in very early times, and as they were made in days so far forgotten as to render the common...

Under the somewhat generic term "Oriental" we class those numerous bronzes and other art treasures which come to us from the East and the Far East. Early in the mediæval days Ea...

In all branches of art there seems to be a break between the earlier mediæval and the later art which was the outcome to some extent of the great Renaissance or revival which sw...

As the collector of copper and brass assembles his treasures and arranges them according to the different periods in which they were made, it is always the household utensils wh...

=Astrolabe.=--The astrolabe is an instrument which was largely used in taking the altitude of the sun or stars at sea. It was well known to the Greeks, and takes its names from...

The modern man can scarcely realize what it must have been in this England of ours when clouds obscured the sun, and thick mists drew a veil over the shadow cast by the gnomon,...

The collector has frequently to decide whether he will entrust the repair of some much battered curio to a local workman or undertake the rôle of an amateur worker and repairer...

The coppersmith has taken a prominent place among the craftsmen of all nations, and at all periods, and in not a few instances he has been acknowledged as an artist of no mean o...

In all these treasures from the old world, little known or understood now, there is a blend of the decorative and artistic and the more utilitarian objects of the household. The...

Artificial light and heat were among the first scientific discoveries of primeval man. To harness the forces of Nature was undoubtedly a great achievement, and at first would be...

The metal of which bells are made differs only from that used for other copper wares in its alloy. The ancients, however, made many mysteries about the constituents of the metal...

The sounding of brass and the tinkling of cymbals have heralded in many State pageants. Civic pomp and splendour have been enriched by brilliant uniforms, and the sunlight has f...

As it has already been intimated, our older metal curios come to us from the Bronze Age. In the relics of that period, in which the British Museum is so rich, we are able to mar...

The admirer of metal-work finds examples of the early brassworker's art in ecclesiastical edifices. Although in years gone by there has been spoiliation in many churches, and so...

Copper has been used frequently as the most suitable metal to coat over with enamels, to be afterwards fired or fixed. Even the ancients discovered the art of colouring the meta...

The multiplicity of collectable objects needed to supply collectors makes the uninitiated wonder where all these antiques come from. Countless numbers of beautiful objects have...

The Italian renaissance in art exercised such a wide influence upon manufactured goods in this and other countries that the collector of antiques naturally turns to the achievem...

There are few collections of copper and brass without a fair sprinkling of curiously formed and often crude objects which we class under the generic term "native curios." There...

The art of sculpture was practised by the ancients, and long before the beautiful bronzes for which the artists of Greece and Rome were famous carvers of wood, and sculptors of...

There are some who hold it to be a wicked thing to loot the temple of a heathen deity, and regard it as sacrilege to ruthlessly tear down the idol from its shrine. Others glory...

It is from the curios in metal and the antiquities in stone which have been discovered, chiefly in comparatively recent years, that we are able to read with understanding the al...

THE METAL AND ITS ALLOYS 35 Ancient bronze--The bronzes of Greece, Rome, and Eastern nations--Copper for enamels--The brass of commerce--Bell metal--The sources of copper--The m...