Maker 4-Point Compass Rose Handmade Antique Brass Bookends

A beautifully styled 4-point bronze compass rose graces the front of this pair of bookends. Maker unknown and almost certainly one-of-a-kind, upon handling these bookends the first thing you will notice is their surprisingly massive weight — that because they are handmade out of nearly one-inch thick solid brass plate! Caliper reading of 0.890 inch thickness, to be precise. Exact age of this fabulous maker’s endeavor is anyone’s guess, judging by the patina our guess would be Art Deco 1920s to 1940s.

SPECS: Each bookend measures a petite 5.165 inches tall, base 3.965 inches square — but the pair weighs in at a whopping 13 lbs 2 oz! (so each bookend a hefty 6.5+ pounds)

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Construction is a nearly-inch-thick square brass base with a second square brass plate of same thickness mounted “on a corner” so as to appear diamond-shaped; the edges of both plates are ‘dimpled’ (unknown to us as to how the artist created this elegant wavy pattern). Since one of the original felt pads was missing, we’ve replaced the pads with a high-quality rubber mat of suitable density for their weight. The maker used a single-screw to hold the pieces together and a steel pin to prevent any rotation of the vertical plate — a very sound and solid design (see the photo taken prior to the new rubber pads glued to the bottoms). On the face of each vertical plate is a three-dimensional compass rose in darker contrasting bronze.

A fantastic pair of vintage bookends — if you happen to have any insight as to the identity of the artist-maker, please let us know!

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Wikipedia: A compass rose, sometimes called a wind rose, rose of the winds or compass star, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart, or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) and their intermediate points. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass_rose