1960s Italian Ship Bird Cage

Recently the MOAPH museum acquired this beautiful “ship” bird cage made in the 1960s in Italy. The problem was it was badly damaged and bird cages are very time-consuming to repair. (And sometimes not so easy!)

When Rick (our fabulous metalsmith) received the cage he informed us the base part was a type of metal that was next to impossible to work on. He recommended we remove the base and have the new base made (by hand) with copper wire instead of the steel wire it currently had. 

We agreed as long as only the wire was replaced and all the ship “parts” on the wire were removed and added back to the new copper wire. The finished product was beautiful beyond our expectations and we are happy to save another pet artifact for history to view.