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Condition: as found
Manufacturer: American made antique
Finial size = 22 inches square x 24 inches high. As the story was told to me, this old tin finial, along with several other very similar decorative finials, once graced the roof-line of an old building in the city of Baltimore. Supposedly, the building was built in the early 1900's not far from the docks that connected Baltimore to the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Chesapeake Bay. Unfortunately, many years later the building was abandoned and soon fell into disrepair. Somewhere around the early 1980's, the structure was torn down to make way for sweeping renovations that eventually became what many of us now know as Baltimore's Inner Harbor. To get back to the story, a group of these finials were loaded into a scrap bin, destined for the salvage yards.
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| It was nothing but pure luck that they were spotted by one of the construction workers who pulled the battered metal pieces from the ruins and took them home. These pieces were never repaired or put to use by the man who saved them and it wasn't until after his death that they were uncovered once again. This time the old finials were found inside several large cardboard boxes that had been tucked away under a workbench in the garage of the man who found them. The garage was part of his estate and became the property of his only son. Sometime later, they ended up here with me. There is no doubt that time left its mark on these old pieces of tin. Their paint has peeled and the metal has nearly all separated at the joints. These pieces were in rough shape when they were first found and in even rougher shape when they finally got to me. Even so, when I saw them, I decided they were too nice to throw away. In the end I came to the conclusion that the only way these finials could be restored without destroying their natural patinas with the heat and other preparation it would take to solder or weld them back together was to glue them. So we clamped all four sides of each piece around some makeshift supports, then tape the pieces back together, first on the outside, then on the inside, until finally they were strong enough that we could coat all the seams on the inner side with heavy construction grade glue. Judging by the finished job that stands before me now, I would have to say the idea turned out to be a winner. No matter how many years it may yet take before this old metal finally rusts to pieces and falls away like dust. Then the glue will be all that remains. The base of this piece measures 22 inches square the finial stand 24 inches tall as shown. I'm glad these fine old remnants of the past could be saved, not lost to us forever as happens far too often with far too many fine old pieces of our history. Here's a thought I had. As you view this final you will notice how the bottom edges are a bit roughed up. The tin is somewhat bent and there is also some tarpaper residue stuck on the metal in some places, but what a great conversation piece this will make. |
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