“German Shepherd” made circa 1920 by the Pompeian Bronze Company, a pair of vintage electroformed bronze-clad figural book ends, bright finish, by the incomparable Paul Herzel. Two tone, these feature bright brass-colored dogs on a darker bronze-patina base (perhaps the dogs were plated after the bronze-clad process, to give this two tone effect). No. 417 in Kuritzky and De Costa.
SPECS: Measures about 8.6" tall with a 3.2" by 5.1" base, the pair weighs in at 6 lbs 0 oz. Marked "(c) Paul Herzel" on the top of each base. Each bookend still has its original felt, one still has its original "Pompeian Bronze" label. Each has some loss of cladding, the most significant being on each base beneath the dog's belly, the cladding looks very thin in those spots, so it most likely just flaked-off at some point during their long life, since there is no obvious evidence of impact or trauma in that hard-to-reach-area. There are several other smaller areas of loss, generally where the dog's hind legs meet the base. I don't see any other loss on either dog's body — but study the photos yourself, and you decide. Corner-bulge or two, probably a mfg anomaly in the underlying plaster shape.
