Grotesque keystones No 3955-B27 & 3955-C31

Top view of the sculpture showing the original incised setting numbers, the “B” designated this was to be installed on the second floor of the facade.

A Long Island antique shop had this grotesque along with the other one I bought a month or so ago, as well as several other pieces.

Obviously these two came from the same building, their modelling is unusually deep. They wanted $350 for the other grotesque which I wound up buying, and $275 for this larger one.

A slight rust stain in the top left area suggests this was over one of two windows per floor which had a fire escape balcony and ladder serving them. The rust would have originated from one of the iron balcony supports directly above it.

The others they have are carved sandstone and some of those have a $2500 price on them which is pretty insane! Besides the overprices on those the quality of the carving on them really stinks, they look like a carving student’s first pieces and for all I know they really were lol. It’s not that they were “ugly” or anything, just that the faces on them were so poorly and amateurishly done that it’s pretty obvious the person who carved them was not good with faces and probably should have stuck to leaves, vines and other designs.

The smaller keystone No 3955 C31 was obviously made by the same sculptor and from the same building. It was sai these came from a fellow who salvaged them from the Lower East side in the 1950's, which would indicate these came off tenements that were probably located where the public housing projects were built then- East of Ave D to the river.