This is a very fine, large, uncommonly good example of the kind of sculpture made by miners in the late 1800s and early 1900s to while the time away between shifts or on breaks, and in fact the skill of carving these "flowers" with dull metal chisels was a highly refined and competitive art form. I have seen a number over the years of singles. But for somebody to create a group like this without it coming apart, as they chisel the solid copper mass, requires incredible skill. I have not seen better for sale and my friends who know more tell me that this really is one of the best examples surviving. The Seaman Museum has a bigger, but different one. This one is not only good for the number of feathers and size, but also for the fact that it was done in a precise manner to make it as elegant as possible. Usually the chisel carvings are one-directional, not 3-dimensional as this one. Most clusters are only 2-4 feathers. This has NINE good feathers. It’s not made in the ground but it is nevertheless a highly significant Michigan mining artifact that fits in well with a fine mineral collection of coppers. Ex. Richard Hauck Collection.
Attribution: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0
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