NOSTALGIC
PUG CHIMNEY SWEEP ( Vintage Vienna Bronze Pug Dog ): Who says pugs aren’t working dogs? This industrious Pug Chimney Sweep
has climbed his ladder to the top of a chimney and is about to drop a
heavy ball down the chimney chained to a stiff brush ball to clean out
the chimney. Then he’ll pull it back up using the cable coiled over
his shoulder. Most of you pug collectors know that many Vienna Bronze
Pugs have been mass-produced recently – lowering their quality and
value. This is a guaranteed OLD pug – and one that I have not seen
reproduced – perhaps because of its complexity. I can’t with
certainty call him an “antique” because the Viennese did not start
“humanizing” their bronzes until the early 20th Century.
I can tell you he was designed and made by the most famous of Vienna
Bronze Foundries – that of Franz Bergmann. This piece bears his
hallmark (an urn with a “B” in it) along with “Austria”.
Condition: Excellent. There is some paint wear from the chimney, but all
the working parts are intact. Size: Pug 1 3/4” tall. Chimney 2”
high, 1/4” square. Total width with ladder 1 3/4”. Total height 3
3/4”.
