Judy Jay's

Time Dances By

jjay@timedancesby.com

Phone: 210-690-8454

Fax: 210-699-4492

--Last Updated: 06/24/2008 --

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Personal Collections: Vienna Bronze Pugs

VIENNA BRONZE MOPS: Small bronze figures, known as Vienna Bronzes, were first produced in the 1850’s by small foundries in Vienna, Austria. Franz Bergmann was one of the first and most famous artists. His son continued running his foundry into the early 20th Century using his original molds. Most of the 19th century figures were very realistic. In the early part of the 20th century they started making animal figures doing human activities and often dressed as humans. Pugs were among the favorite models with the reason being obvious to those of us who have pug family members. Vienna Bronzes have been continuously made from the original molds, by the original methods - including hand finishing and painting - up through the present. Starting around the early 1990's the old molds became publicly available and a relatively large number of new pugs were made, probably along with new models as well as copies of the old.  The quality of the castings of these new ones is not the as good as the older ones and they are painted with brighter acrylic paints, making them fairly easy to differentiate. Dating the older more valuable ones is close to impossible. Some are hallmarked and some are not. Most were probably made pre-WWII. No matter! They have retained their popularity and value. I own over 50 of the little darlings, ranging in size from 2 cm. to 7 cm. Pictured here are a few examples from my collection. My 11 piece pug band is my favorite, not pictured here due to space.

Personal Collections: Eve Pearce Pugs