What is this dog statue made out of?

[tara1245]

I  am going to list this statue on ebay and I wanted to be able to describe the material he's made out of.    Thanks, Tara

[railman44]

Is it signed?  How old do you think it is?  If metal, it appears to be either spelter or bronze.  Both are non-magnetic.  A test for spelter is to pick a spot not noticeable and take a straight pen and put a small scratch on the underside in the metal.  If it's silver under the patina or surface color, it's spelter.  Spelter doesn't command near the value of bronze.

[tara1245]

I'm not sure how old it is exactly.  My grandmother gave it to my mom in the mid seventies, but it wasn't a new item then.  No signature that I can see.
It's some sort of dark metal.  I'll try the test with a pen.  Thanks so much, that's really helpful!