Winged Griffin, after Hecla iron works’ newel posts ca 1870

$375.00

Description

I decided to finally make the 3 molds needed to make this griffin newel post. I had 3 of them in my collection, cast-iron from the 1870s they were used as newel posts on the stoops of buildings in NYC.
Many of them had their wings broken off, many probably deliberately by building supers to remove the fairly sharp pointed wings to avoid injuries or tearing of ladies dresses.

I am at present working on the molds required, the wings will take two two piece molds and the body will take one two piece mold and a supporting shell, my plaster cast needs some repairs, refinement and chasing some missing details back in, sometime later this summer I should have the work done.

The originals were cast iron which would cost many hundreds of dollars each to cast in this material today,  I plan to cast them in black resin, after I have a couple in my hands I can price them better then, I anticipate they will be around $350 each, the resin comes in deep black, so if they are primed and painted with a gloss black paint they would be like the original painted cast-iron pieces which were usually gloss black too like the 2nd photo shows.

The resin can be drilled to install on a base or something, I would not recommend using the resin casts AS newel posts, but in the garden or just as decorative newel posts not supporting an active handrail they’d be stunning.

 

An original cast-iron

The first black resin cast of the winged dragon is out of the mold, looks very good! after the seam lines get sanded down and it gets surface cleaning to remove any oily release agent, it can be primed with black primer and painted gloss black, but that will be after the wings are made and attached with stainless steel machine screws first.
It took exactly 2 gallons.

Without the wings attached

Without the wings attached

 

I am pleased with how this turned out, they need a base of some kind and I havent been able to find just the right one, but that rock in the photo is just about right, so I may very well make a mold of it and cast it in acid stained concrete so these can be mounted to them and be securely standing upright. Cut stone is very expensive, about $150 each plus shipping, the landscaping blocks you see out there are all concrete and the wrong size and so forth, so it leaves making them myself.

They are black resin, primed and painted gloss black, the wings attached with stainless steel machine screws, along with same for attaching to the base.

They can be done without the wings too, most of the few originals left in NYC lack their wings- they were broken off.

The price per each includes the wings and a base, along with shipping, if you want a pair of these you would need to add two to the cart as they are sold individually.

The body weighs 16 pounds, with the wings it is about 19 pounds, the base which will be acid stained concrete will probably be about 20 pounds.

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