Very Victorian (Revival) Salvage Frames

The brass was corroded and dingy, and the little glass/mirror inserts were dirty and chipped. One thing that impressed me were the curved glass inserts on the big frames- you don't see that very often these days.

Here they are, all lined up for their re-finish. As I pulled out my paint, I suddenly noticed something odd about the small frames- there was an odd one in the bunch! Can you spot it?
Now this was (and still is) perplexing. I suppose it is nothing even remotely interesting, but it was to me. Yeah, I've got this obsessive personality, so I had to document the differences between them. Not only was the odd one out a whiter metal (white brass or zinc, I didn't want to bend it up to test) but it has a distinctly different layout in spots, although at first glance they're all the same.
As someone who has spent the better part of her life carving, molding, casting, and finishing metal designs, I can tell that one of these is some sort of a copy- but which one? Often, when a metalsmith is molding a piece to remake for their own line, they will change the details so that they can avoid copyright infringement. The white metal one has much finer detail in spots, but was also thinner and seemed more delicate. Is this the original? And if so- what was the lady doing with one odd one? Had she found a close match at one point in time and mixed it with the group? Did someone break one, resulting in a new purchase? Were they made by completely different casting houses? Both items are stamped 'MADE IN ITALY', so who knows the history? I just think there's a story behind this, and I would love to know it.

Labels: crafts, found objects, projects