Antique Painted SnowBird on Reclaimed Lamp Base

Snowbirds and 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, birds or ornate "panels" .

I cleaned this beautiful architectural artifact and mounted it to a reclaimed, repainted lamp base. Expect imperfections given the age of this fantastic piece.