Art Deco Bison on a marble base

When I acquired this piece (about 20 years ago) from an auction house in Liverpool, it was attached, very loosely to its marble base with one self tapping screw and the base itself was quite badly chipped and the dish was badly stained with what appeared to have been years of use as an ashtray all in all, in pretty bad shape.

Now not far from were we live are two very large cemeteries and the is a monumental mason based there. I went to see him with the marble base and asked if he could do anything with it. He very kindly said he would repair the chips and clean it for me - but you know how these things go, restoration wasn't his day job so I had to wait months to finally get it back, and when i did it was 'almost' as good as new. Bison (which is spelter with a bronze painted patina, I have no idea what the horns are made of, they could be bone or a composite I'm not sure) was reattached and this minor restoration complete.

I don't think I would ever part with this - little projects like these are always the keepers I think.