Sometimes, if I get a good deal on a nice bookend or set of bookends, I'll add them to my collection. Bookends are widely collected and scarce examples can fetch very high premiums on the market, well into the thousands. I've seen this set before, but mainly made from painted plaster. This is the first set I've seen that are actually made from solid bronze, and boy are they heavy!
For such a small tableau, these bookends are very densely decorated and actually illustrate a story. Depicted here is a Plains Indian wearing a headdress, loincloth and moccasins riding his galloping horse in the foreground while having a shootout with a man who is standing in front of two "prairie schooner" covered wagons in the background, at the top. The level of detail is amazing! Neither bookend is signed, but an even more detailed version of this design was made of a mixture of wood pulp and resin that was molded to look like carved wood by a company called Syracuse Ornamental Company or Syroco. It is entirely possible that at some time in the past, someone used a Syroco bookend to throw a mold, then cast this set in bronze. There was a lot of copyright infringement back then, especially when it came to decorative pieces like these. As far as I know, Syroco never made bronze bookends...
Still in all, they're a very nicely made and solid pair of bookends. If anyone knows more about them, drop me a note!
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| Indian Attacks Wagons bookends, bronze, pair |
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| Indian Attacks Wagons bookends, bronze, front |
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| Indian Attacks Wagons bookends, bronze, back |
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| Indian Attacks Wagons bookends, bronze, underside |
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