Randall's Urban Architectural Sculptures

I was happy to have found this red terra cotta capital, one of about 8 I salvaged in January, 1977 from 300 West 137th St in Harlem. Though I sold them off around 1985 or 1986, 4 of them eventually wound up in the hands of a fellow in California who had them on consignment with a salvage store for $750 each.

2 make up a paired capital though the pair is one block just rotated 90 degrees to complete the design with a 3 leaf flower in the center. Each block has a pair of morphed figures with somewhat angry looking bulldog-like heads with ears.

So it was nice to get one of my pieces back after 23 years of wandering around!
It looks like someone infilled the cavity inside with concrete and painted it black, it may have been installed in a wall or it was infilled to make it stand upright as it’s top heavy.
I’ll have to remove the ugly paint and the concrete as well.
I can still see some of the original yellow paint I remember these having.

The top has the impressed mold/design number; 342

Mostly cleaned of paint back to it’s original appearance before being painted, circa 1930′s

I purchased a pair of these at an antique store a while back, they came from France. I’ll be making a mold now of one of them so I can cast 4 to use on the ceiling in my front parlor, so casts will be available of this highly detailed very ornate carving.