Cast moulded from a stunning original architectural sculpture modelled by Randall

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                         Randall's Lost New York City

For those who may like a neutral color on this, a "cleaner" more contemporary relief without "age" or patina, the panel is shown above with a flat taupe finish.

Same panel is shown below with the blue background to highlight the bas relief portion, this is the  blue and taupe finish and vividly makes the design stand out from the background. As always,  photos and monitors vary, these colors are approximate only.

History of the sculpture:

                                  My version of the griffin spandrel panel measures 26" by 17-1/4"

I decided it was a really nice design concept that was worth creating in a new model concentraiting on the Griffin motif and in low relief like the ancient Roman and Greek stone carvings. The sun, rays and borders were unnecessary and cluttering. The original salvaged piece was priced at $3200- a price tag that is well beyond the means of your average "Joe," and probably most people reading this page for something to hang on the wall wouldn't you say?

That's where I come in, as a professional sculptor AND collector of these original architectural elements a few issues come to play, one is this price is outrageously high even to me, $1200 would be a more reasonable price however $3200 was the price so it's out of my league as well as probably most of the people browsing this page.
The other is, as a professional sculptor who specializes exclusively in Victorian and Art Deco architectural sculptures- I liked the Griffin concept and it was an easy one for me to model in clay.

Now you will have the opportunity to own a Griffin cast  from my model at a much more realistic price and in any quantity. Do you want a pair? this is an option for you the single original can't provide.

Above: The photos show the beginning stage, the first step towards creating this design in clay.

Below: A detail shot of the Griffin's head during the modelling process;

Lastly, a one minute silent video clip during final "cleanup", this also gives a better idea of the size in relationship to my hands.

It is curiously a coincidence working on this Griffin and thinking back to the book I recently purchased about fossils. The ancient Greeks and others found dinosaur and protoceratops fossil bones and fragments, huge skeletons and concluded they were all a race of giant humanoids, warriors, "heros" or gods, but the Griffin differed in that regard because of certain anatomy about the head which was extremely fragile and always found very damaged in fossils- this was assumed by the ancients to have been remains of WINGS, thus the legend of the Griffin and his stylized, and later- heavily Victorianized depictions appeared in artwork of all kinds.

These days of course we know Griffins never existed as depicted, but the ancients actually believed they did, and even wrote descriptions of ferocious winged creatures in many journals, books and other literature whose bones were found in various locations.

The mythical Griffin is shown in the book;  "The Fossil Hunters"  a fascinating book if I do say so and I highly recommend buying a copy.

The book author concluded that it was almost certain that the Protoceratops fossil remains are what the ancients were finding, and that the whole myth and lore of griffins started with finding these fossils and incorrrectly identifying portions of them as "wings", a little artistic license and imagination came up with the form we see today in the old art.
The author pointed out how all the other Greek entities like Zeus, Apollo, Medusa etc were obviously fictional or lore while the griffin had always been described as a real but misunderstood animal, one that still lived at that time but in far off lands like Mongolia because no one had seen a live one- but they had "proof" they existed and were once inhabiting Greece because they had the bones!

The book has a good old photo of a protoceratops fossil, and it is easy to see how the whole romantic fictional story of the Griffin came about after seeing this, the beak and face are absolutely recognizable as a "Griffin";

This model is also available in concrete for the outside or building into a garden wall as a special order- inquire, concrete is priced 20% higher due to the extra labor involved, there is a 3 week lead and production time on concrete.

NOTICE:

Designs in the Lost New York City Collection are  copyrighted with all rights reserved, this includes reproductions of antique pieces upon which I made certain modifications, alterations or changes- the changes are copyright and reproduction of same would constitute copyright infringement. I do not sell molds, nor casts for others to replicate and will enforce my proprietary rights. I reserve the right to decline sales to anyone.

General information etc applicable to all of my sculptures

NOTE: My standard cast-stone is for INTERIOR OR UNDER A COVERED PORCH/SUN ROOM ONLY! Out in the garden they might last 4 or 5 years, maybe longer before showing weathering damage.

1. If you are looking for something to place in the garden or build into a wall, I offer concrete as a special order item which takes approx 3 weeks. Not all pieces are available in concrete, inquire before ordering.
   
2. All of these sculptures have a heavy wire embedded on the back to hang them on the wall.
   
3. I own the originals, copyrights in most cases, and the molds, I can produce any quantity and custom configurations as well.
   
4. All of my sculptures are personally hand-cast in my home studio, they are signed, numbered and dated. These are finished to order at the time of purchase.

FINISHES AVAILABLE

1. Old Dirty Bronze (metallic)
   
2. Old Dirty Nickel (metallic)
   
3. Dirty limestone grey- varies from near black to very light grey.
   
4. Buff yellow.
   
5. Red terra cotta.
6. Taupe on the Griffin panel
7. Blue and Taupe on the Griffin panel
   

SHIPPING

I use DHL ground service for all shipments in the lower 48 states. I no longer ship outside the US.

Shipping charges if displayed here, are for my standard INTERIOR cast-stone versions only!

Username: client
PW: mail

On these larger panels I am revamping the shipping on these because cardboard boxes shipped to me flat in bundles big enough for safe shipping will run almost as much as the materials to build plywood CRATES, so I am changing the shipping on these larger pieces.

The panel prices are on the individual pages, the shipping includes $20 for the materials and my time to build the crate from 1/2 sheet of 1/2" thick plywood, and $30 to ship anywhere in the lower 48 states. That includes the surcharge the carriers all charge for pickup $3, residential deliver $2, and shipments not in a cardboard container carries a $6 surcharge for handling.

The total shipping cost then is flat rated to $50 to keep things simple.

Use this button to order, $170.00 total, shipping is included for interior cast stone only.

Randall, Owner and webmaster of
Randall's Lost New York City web gallery, and sculpture studio.
A historical photo essay of lost buildings from NYC's architectural history.

All photos and accompanying text are (C) Randall's Lost New York City, all rights reserved.