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| Can you tell what I'm trying to say? |
Location: Swap shelf
Question: Can you identify the mark or writing on the bottom of this mystery metal urn?
My guess for the lower stamp is some bird (eagle?), possibly double-headed. The ovoid text stamp remains a mystery, I can't tell if the letters are from the greek or cyrilic alphabets, or what they say. Any suggestions?
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| Time for a bath. |
From the quality of construction I'm under no delusions that it is of any value, likely some souvenir trinket, the grey stuff in the first photo is perhaps solder from where the leg section was attached to the round vessel part. Despite these flaws, I rather liked the shape. It looked like it could be a cool little planter, and I'm always on the lookout for plant storage.
At right is a 'before' photo. As you can see, it is a bit dinged up, with some mystery white residue in the small details of the lion heads and the design at the top of the legs.
After a bath, some delicate cleaning attempts, and the application of a glaze to the inside and out, I declared it done enough. Soaking and then scrubbing did not remove all of the white stuff, so I left it there rather than scratching up the metal in an attempt to remove it. C'est la vie. Or rather, c'est la métal.
The glaze made it look smoother, shinier, and hopefully will protect the inside from any plant water. I added glaze because it did appear to be rusting on the inside when I found it, not very exciting, hence no photo. But there you have it, a little urn and my new fragrant rosemary seedling.
These lions don't have to worry about thorns.
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| Guardian of good taste. |