Antique St. Bernard barrel collar | ||
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Posted 2 years ago
Timofpembe…
(2 items)
I am trying to establish the value of an antique St Bernard keg collar, Leather strap, with brass cows on the collar. Would you be able to offer me an opinion, or direct me to somebody familiar with antique collars of this kind ?
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I am definitely not a collar expert.
But I have a few observations..your piece seems more decorative than useful. The pieces I have seen, have a leather strap that goes over the dogs head, NOT attached directly to the collar.
Next all that extra metal is going to freeze or become extra cold in that type of weather.
Additionally, there is questions concerning the facts if this really happened or if it was just a myth.
Is there wear on the collar, like it had been worn?
The barrel is extra large. The myth is, they were carrying beer or liquor..but that's a lot!
I think it makes more sense that this is a fancy collar for a cow and had a bell similar to the ones pictured. Maybe a show animal, because again, it's very decorative. Why would a mountain snow dog have cows on it's collar?
Thank you for your comments, dave2no1. I am no expert. The leather strap / collar has clearly been used ( wear and creases in the leather ), and would not likely go around a cow's neck ( I would estimate at the present position to be a calculated 18 inch circular diameter ) maybe a calf, and virtually all cows grazing in the Alps sported bells ), though, as it does looks a bit as though the barrel was not be original (The barrel is mounted with copper straps and 3 wood screws + one miss-matched round-head screw, + no spigot, no decorations). The cows with red blazes makes a lot of sense to me - Swiss cows, Alps, Swiss flag. the rivets through the collar are very small, so conduction of cold through the leather would be infinitesimal. The St Bernard is a very large, strong, furry dog, so this could well fit on one. Only an older Swiss farmer could really say ? LOl I just found an unsecured site, http://www.swisstraditions.com/collars/collars.html , that seems to have similarly decorated more modern dog collars. Is that confirmation ? Thanks again...
Nice find on the link. I don't understand why a dog collar would be decorated with cows, but you have proven me incorrect.
It's a nice decorative item and good conversation piece. Thanks for sharing, it was fun.
And again for all those others reading..a myth.
"The monks of the St. Bernard Hospice deny that any St. Bernard has ever carried casks or small barrels around their necks; they attribute the image to an 1820 painting by Edwin Landseer, Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveller (which became a popular engraving in 1831 by Charles Landseer)."
https://www.valuemystuff.com/us/appraisal