Dodge Metal 1947 Pheasant

[agreeneyes]

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me anything about this piece.  It's cast or made by Dodge Metal and has the name of Dodge Metal and the date of 1947 on the bottom outside of the base.  I'm wondering what material this is made of.   It has a brass like look but I don't think it is brass. It's a beautiful piece in very good to excellent condition.  It's very heavy for it's size it weighs approximately 3 lbs.  One of tips of the feathers is pushed in a little but it doesn't appear to be broken. It looks like it might have a copper head but I'm not sure. It's approximately 5 3/4 inches tall to the top of the  wing and 10 1/2 inches from the head to the tip of the tail. I would also like to know what the value of this piece might be, thank you

[mariok54]

There are two here on Worthpoint, no price, but gives a bit more info on Dodge if you click on the pic.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-dodge-inc-pheasant-bird-138671013

Looks as if it might be one of a pair of bookends, a few examples of Dodge plus prices here, but they also made trophies, so it is possibly not a bookend... but might be ...  


http://antiquebookends.net/dodge.htm
 

[waywardangler]

With that pushed in wing tip, the value, whatever it is, decreases. That is a point at which the eye goes immediately. Rather odd that they made bookends out of these when the style could have been changed to have a half pheasant for each bookend but there it is with an odd piece attached to the side in the Worthpoint example.

I would guess they sold this as just a decorative pheasant because they already had the mold. My guess is pot metal or white metal with a brass finish.  Dodge was mainly a trophy maker and most of those pieces are of a cheap cast metal.

[agreeneyes]

I think you're right about this being a decorative piece, I don't think it was ever a bookend.  I don't see where a piece for a bookend is missing.  Again the experts have helped me I appreciate all of the information.

[cogar]

One of tips of the feathers is pushed in a little but it doesn't appear to be broken.

If the tip of that feather is "pushed in" then it can't be pot metal.

It appears to me to be broken off ..... and the break looks "white".

Are you sure it is not made of plaster?

[agreeneyes]

It's very heavy for it's size and the break isn't white it appears to be metal.  You can feel the metal from the tip underneath it just appears to have been smashed a little and bent under.  Thank you

[mariok54]

Could be my eyes as I can't see any white, except the neck ring (how is that coloured?) ..I can't even make out mush distortion at the wing feathers ... again, could be my eyes!!   . But if it were dropped, with the sheer weight of it, it could feasibly bend the wing tip.

[waywardangler]

The eyes have it...

[mariok54]

 

I think the eyes have HAD it !

[waywardangler]

A little info on Dodge at http://www.dodgefamily.org/Genealogy/RayEdgarDodge.shtml

Great info on Dodge here http://books.google.com/books?id=VkohA7Ni5QUC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=he+Dodge+Foundry+Metal+Process&source=bl&ots=BknU-A7w3Q&sig=ei1Tzg6tgF0HbhmmVQzOm000qS0&hl=en&ei=kyHlTfCoJMrh0QGjs4mpBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

The 1947 date cast in the base dates the design but not when the actual piece was cast.

[agreeneyes]

Thank you for information and the links,  I learned a lot.  My eyes are just as bad I didn't see the other two tips until I looked at the picture.  It does appear to probably have been dropped at one time.  Any idea on the value of this piece?  I saw the bookends similar to this but they had been sold and the price wasn't visible.

[cogar]

This looked white to me.

[agreeneyes]

It does look white in the pictures but it's greyish color, thank you

[mariok54]

I was just about to say that it could be the flash. On the Dodge site it does suggest that they were all made of various metals, and then painted,  looks like some of the paint came off in contact with the floor.

[agreeneyes]

Yes,  the camera picks up a lot that the eye doesn't see.  I just thought one tip but when you enlarged the photo it appears 3 tips are damaged, thank you