Antique Painted Snowdog on Navy Yard Redwood

Snowdogs were a mainstay of 19th century and early 20th century high-traffic commercial building rooflines. Designed to hold back accumulating snow and ice from falling on passers-by, these brilliantly utilitarian pieces were cast iron and mounted along the bottom edge of roof shingles (often slate).  Designs included single objects such as eagles, and in this case, an ornate "panel" with that sustains its original deep red paint.

I cleaned this beautiful architectural artifact and mounted it to historic, late 1800s redwood salvaged from a water tank built on the grounds of Portsmouth Navy Yard in New Hampshire.  Appx 15.5" L by 7" H. Expect imperfections given the age of this fantastic piece.