Q & A

R. H. of Port Elgin, Ontario writes:

I'm hoping you will find a minute or two to let me know what this is and what it might be worth. As you can see it is a 3 headed elephant. It weighs 22 pounds, stands 16.5" tall to the top of the rider's head. From the front tusks to the tail is 12". The base is 9.75" by 4.75" and one inch thick. The material, from what I have been told by other dealers, is brass with silver plate on the two outside elephants. The sword and fork in two of the rider's four hands are removable.

We asked Colin Ritchie to respond:

This is a figure of the Hindu God Shiva, who can be depicted in many formats, seen here riding on the back of an elephant. The metal is actually bronze which would have originally had a nice dark brown patina. Someone has noticed the yellow metal beneath and thought it should be polished up to look like brass. Both brass and bronze are similar metal alloys made primarily from copper and tin. The surface of bronze is treated to produce a patina or skin which can range in colour from green through various shades of brown to black. Brass is meant to be polished regularly and kept a nice shiny yellow colour. The white metal colour showing on the sides of the elephants is just a concentration of tin or other white metal in that area from the casting; this piece was not silverplated. It is a fairly late example, dating from around 1900. I would estimate its value to be in the region of $ 300 - $ 500 at auction.