Hood Ornament???

[sjohn61]

Found buried about 8" I looked up vintage hood ornmnts, but nothing like this. Kind of looks like a ram or goat.. Any ideas??
It's about 3-1/2" tall.

 

[BillF]

The top of an andiron?

 

[sjohn61]

Not sure what that is?? Could you explain? Thanks!!

 

[BillF]

Andirons are the metal things that were sitting in front of fireplaces a long time ago. I don't know if they were attached to the grate that the logs were burned on. You'd need to look them up. Some were pretty elaborate. Don't know that's what this is, just a guess.

 

[BillF]

My buddy says it looks like the top of a wrought iron fence?

 

[1859large]

I go with a hood ornament. It vaguely looks like an early ram hood ornament. Maybe from a European car? Or earlier American car, lots of these ideas get recycled years later.

HH

 

[sjohn61]

Really does resemble the ram hood ornament, but it is upright, and I have not found any info regarding what kind of auto. Then again I agree it could be the top of andiron, the very bottom looks like it could have been attached to something like that.

 

[DiggerODirt]

Chevy Impala Hood ornament?

 

[yowow#1]

Decorative finial off something, i doubt it is a hood ornament.

 

[hotrodzincoln]

Wild guess - maybe custom hood ornament? People are pretty creative those things and I imagine they were in days gone by, too. Visit the links below for some pretty humorous examples.

http://hacknmod.com/hack/diy-custom-hood-ornament/

http://www.pinterest.com/vi0latedvintage/hood-ornaments-and-mascots/

 

[blue dunbar]

The fact that it's standing so vertical makes me think it's not a hood ornament. Most were more horizontal giving the suggestion of speed and power.

 

[1859large]

They certainly used the same style/shape in lamp finials too.

Desirable shapes get recycled over and over. Either used in different ways at the same time or in the future in the same or different ways. The world of art and decoration recycles everything. Some othe the patterns you see commonly today may be a hundred years of or 2 thousand years old. If not recycled then reinvented.

The facade of the Whitehouse is not modern or from the 1790s but either Greek or Roman or a mix of both. (It was built in the 1790s but the design elements are ancient.) Because it looks that way does not mean it is necessarily that old, it might be recycled. The Greeks and Romans where big on "power of the state" buildings and have been copied ever since.

HH

1859