151
The Statue of Liberty before it became the iconic green we know today (thelemmy.club)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/interestingasfuck@lemmy.world
36 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 4 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Yeah. It was cheaper AND significantly lighter to ship over than other things you’d make statues of that scale from (marble, bronze)

Copper is known to tarnish to a protective finish, so it doesn’t need a coating.

It was a smart choice

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    BUT WHY DIDN'T THEY LACQUER IT

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago* (1 child)

    because it didn’t need it. Which was part of the calculus in choosing the material.

    He chose not to lacquer it because it didn’t need it.

    The army corp of engineers later looked into lacquering it and similarly decided “it doesn’t need it”

    The sculptor petitioned them to plate it in gold cuz he didnt expect it to go full on green, but he KNEW it would patina and didn’t require it

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •