Williamsburg Virginia Metalcrafters Bruton Parish Hurricane Sconces Pair

Virginia Metalcrafters Bruton Parish Hurricane Sconces Pair. These are the genuine Williamsburg Reproduction sconces, number 16-22-1, made by Virginia Metalcrafters, not the Baldwin or Glo-Mar knockoffs that are lighter and have different back plates and are less quality. They are faithful copies of the old ones that are in the Bruton Parish Episcopal Church on Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg. They are solid sand cast brass that has been polished and lacquered.

The sconces are heavy brass and all the visible surfaces are without dark spots, with one exception, there is a dark line that shows in the photos on the bottom of one of the globes, but it is not visible when mounted on the wall and the candle cup is in place as I have shown in the next photo. It was caused by the two pieces of brass touching over the years and is not damage, just a time thing.

You could polish it out and relacquer the cup, but it doesn't show when assembled on the wall. There is no damage, other than the two surfaces rubbed when assembled.

Again, IT DOESN'T SHOW WHEN ASSEMBLED ON THE WALL, I WOULDN'T DO ANYTHING, JUST MOUNT THEM AND ENJOY THEM. I just wanted to fully disclose the small discoloration. These sconces are very high quality and will enhance any room with their fine look. I have a pair of them on my formal room wall and they look great and elicit many favorable comments from guests.

Virginia Metal Crafters, which was known before as Harvin and previously as Loth Stove, was located in Waynesboro, VA. They went out of business in 2006 and there are no more VM products being made.

They made reproductions for Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Charleston, Historic Newport, Winterthur Museum, the Smithsonian, Mystic Seaport, Monticello, Mt. Vernon, Old Sturbridge Village and many others in their long history. All of their products were of the highest quality and craftsmanship and these sconces are no exception. The process VM used to cast brass was the traditional method of wet sand casting, a process that has been done since pre-history and what. Was used in colonial America.

To sand cast, a wooden mold of the object was made and then it had sand packed very tightly around it and then the wood was removed and molten metal poured into the resulting mold. Then after it cools and hardens the casting is removed from the sand, filed, sanded, shaped and polished to a high gloss and then it was coated with clear lacquer to maintain the gloss.

It is a very labor intensive process and that is why their products were expensive. There are sand casting pits on these objects because of the nature of the process and they are not defects, however VM did an excellent job of making these with very few sand pits, hence they were the supplier of all the brass reproductions to Colonial Williamsburg, who is known for the high quality of their reproductions that they sell. If the brass had too many sand cast marks, they just re-melted it and used the brass over again.

There are occasional bumps or flaws but these are in excellent shape overall. I have included many photos you can enlarge and look at details. I have tried to shown all the different sides of the sconces and the globes. Enlarge and look at the details. The globes are hand blown and like they were in colonial times and there are small air bubbles in the glass, that is normal for hand blown glass.

I have also included a photo of the 1982 Williamsburg Catalog, page190, that shows one of the sconces mounted on a wall and it gives the dimensions. Notice that there are two sizes of the globes listed, one is 10 inches and the other is 13 inches, these are the taller globes and they actually measure 13 1/4, they are hand blown and there is variance in hand made pieces. I reuse packaging and will pack these well.

They will come in two boxes, glass in one and brass in the other to help safeguard the glass. Any problems, please let me know immediately. I treat people the way I want to be treated. Any questions please ask, if you want additional photos, ask. Oh, they will come with the brass screws to mount them, but you may need plastic anchors if they are going into drywall or plaster.

The item "Williamsburg Virginia Metalcrafters Bruton Parish Hurricane Sconces Pair" is in sale since Friday, June 4, 2021. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Metalware\Brass". The seller is "bgary49" and is located in Knoxville, Tennessee. This item can be shipped to United States.

• Object Type: Candle Holder
• Material: Brass
• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
• Modified Item: No