Gloucester Fisherman Bookends- Pompeian Bronze Works

A pair of 1920's vintage cast metal bookends depicting Gloucster fishermen wearing slickers and a sou'wester rain cap. The bookend fronts with scene of a Brigantine under sail on choppy seas. These bookends retain their original bronze electroplated and blue-green polycrome finish. The name P. Manfredi (Peter Manfredi) is embossed in the casting with copyrite mark. Measures 4 inches wide, 2 1/2 inches deep and 5 1/2 inches tall. The pair weighs slightly more than 5 pounds. I have not seen another pair of these bookend castings!

HISTORY: The Pompeian Bronze Works traces its history back to the Galvano Bronze Company, a New York City firm founded by Paul Mori around 1889.  Galvano Bronze was one of the first American commercial companies to use bronze electroplating and electroforming.  Its earliest products were architectural elements.  The company introduced bookends into its product line in 1915. In the early 1920s, the Galvano Bronze Company was sold to its employees and became The Pompeian Bronze Works. Peter Manfredi, an employee, filed 27 book and lamp design copyrights with the U.S. Library of Congress Copyright Office in 1921. The company continued using the bronze electroplating (bronze-clad) and electroforming using white-metal (often pewter) or spelter (zinc) to make ashtrays, bookends, and lamps.  In addition to a bronze finish, the company painted some of its products.  Scholars are not able to agree upon the end date for the company. It appears that some of the Pompeian Bronze Company molds were acquired by the Marion Bronze Company.