Compo's Statue Update

Holmfirth still does a good trade on the back of the show, you only have to look at the live webcam (When it's working) to see the tourist coming to see the Cafe and do the tour bus, ... I still see many people there just because of the show including oversea's visitors, ...

Another case in point — I'll be there for a week in mid-September, lodging at The Rooms At The Nook, between a week in London for research at the British Library and a week's photography in the Northern Lakes District. When I booked the room, I asked for the one I had in 2015. It's on the top floor, so three flights of stairs from the ground, but it's very quiet with a view out to the tree tops and down to the River Ribble.

I'm not a big spender on souvenirs or food, so I'm afraid the town doesn't make much on my visit.
 
Bit more checkign and found this:

http://www.andrews-studios.co.uk/commissions.htm

Would indicate that about £24,000 for a full sized bronze sculpture of an adult. £12,000 initial costs then double that for the bronze.


Compo and the cast have brought the town multiple times that figure in trade and income over the years and if he is not worth that investment from volunteers , the councils in the area and the trade people then I just despair . I imagine even Roy Clarke would contribute to ensure a fitting tribute was produced not this shabby boulder with below average carving.
 
There's a problem with placing a bronze statue in a public place these days ........ I don't need to explain any further .........
 
Just found out that you could do a one off dog sized bronze statue for about £9,000 all in. Thus no idea what a human one would cost. Obviously a lot more so £8,000 was not going to go very far!
A bronze statue of Morecambe and Wise, recently unveiled in Blackpool, cost £75,000!
 
The entire Boer War memorial bronze statue was stolen from Nuneaton town center. It was replaced by public subscription and relocated to a well-patrolled area — the gardens in front of the museum where it is floodlit all night so easy for the patrolling officers to see.
 
Holmfirth does not immediately come to mind as the crime capital of Yorkshire however you just don't know these days if there's free money to be had regardless of the morality [as Marianna's post makes all too clear] then people will do anything to grab it , a sad indictment of today's society :(
 
Better lock up my stock of pre 1992 2p pieces (apparently at one time the value of the metal for each coin was 3p!) if thre is a run on bronze ....


Most common metal theft round here is the copper cabling from railway tracks -but can be lethal as some of it is at 415 volts and the overhead stuff is 25,000 volts. Usually the lineside theft knocks out the signals and thus delays the trains ....
 
I do metal casting with a high temperature furnace. If I need bronze, I find it's cheaper to melt down my old bronze coinage than to buy the equivalent in bronze stock, though I mostly cast stuff in aluminium.
 
A little anecdote about casting and coinage . Many years ago I was on Jury Service and the first case involved someone who had tried to produce counterfeit pound coins . They had made a mould , melted down some metal and poured it in to make the coin , they then let it cool down and then used gold aerosol paint to make it a similar colour to the real coin .

After making a batch of five the mould cracked but they still carried on and produced another four which had a raised ridge across the centre where the crack had left an impression unbelievably they attempted to file off with a Draper brand file before again spraying with the gold paint . After producing the four coins the mould basically disintegrated which put an end to their exploits.

I remember two distinct things from the trial , firstly the total astonishment of the Judge who could simply not believe how this case had ever arrived in his court and secondly part of the evidence we the jury saw was the back page of the local paper emblazoned with the headline Shearer double sees Newcastle home, accompanied with images of the coin shape picked out by the gold spray paint they'd used to cover the coin. :)
 
I do metal casting with a high temperature furnace. If I need bronze, I find it's cheaper to melt down my old bronze coinage than to buy the equivalent in bronze stock, though I mostly cast stuff in aluminium.


Strictly speaking illegal, although proof might be difficult, as it could be considered as defacing coinage.
 
apparently the chap who added little inscriptions to four fivers the other week, is probably strictly guilty. However could think of a few more important things to worry about!
 
What about those machines that press your coins into mementos or putting coins onto the rr track right before a train comes?
 
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