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Hand-carved Coal Hippopotamus

What do you do when you’re a miner and the coal-mines have closed down? Well, if you are an enterprising chap at heart, you start carving figures out of the mineral that gave you your first job - Welsh Coal!

 

This was bought about 30yrs ago in an old mining town in Wales. The small shop had other figures. No elephants, my favourite, but I also love hippos so this little fella was the one I took away with me.

 

A lot of Welsh coal is of the type Anthracite. It isn’t as brittle as the coal variety burned normally in houses and because it is harder it’s good for carving.

 

For Looking Close on……Friday! Theme…….Handmade.

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Uploaded on August 10, 2023
Taken on August 10, 2023