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What is the little sculpture on car bonnets called?

I mean, the thing which is the equivalent of a ship’s figure head, like a decoration in the middle front of the bonnet. A jaguar car has a little silver jaguar sticking out of it.
Many thanks indeed.

Hood ornament or bonnet mascot depending on your culture. There is a vast collectors market for these and some are extemely valuable and others not. The Hispano Suiza had a stork as a mascot, and each marque had it’s own – Jaguar for example and the early version of this is highly collectible.

The most famous mascots are those of Réné Lalique dating from the late 1920’s and early 1930’s in frosted glass. The form of manufacture and composition of the glass died with Réné but it is known to contain arsenic so even if known the manufacture today would be prohibited. Perhaps his most famous is "Spirit of the Wind" (also known as Victoire) but go here to see a complete list and photos of his mascots. Some are now fetching over $30,000 or £18,000.

http://www.go-star.com/antiquing/lalique1005.htm

Also better photos can be found here. I collected these years ago but prices are now out of my reach. My favourite is still Chrysys.

http://www.mascot-mania.co.uk/orphanage.html?/glassdesigns.html&19orphan57

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 8:35 am and is filed under bonnets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

11 Responses to “What is the little sculpture on car bonnets called?”

  1. It is a hood ornament
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  2. hood ornament?
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  3. they are called a mascot
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  4. Its a mascot as far as I know !
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  5. tunisianboy46 on July 30th, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    It is called a Mascot (the mascot I really like is the Spirit of Ecstasy found on a Rolls Royce!)
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  6. Mascot
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  7. theusaloveitorleaveit on July 30th, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    So are you english or canadian? The sculpture on the ‘hood’ of an automobile is a called a hood ornament. Maybe across the pond it is called a bonnet ornament.
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  8. UK:mascot
    US:hood ornament
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  9. Hood ornament or bonnet mascot depending on your culture. There is a vast collectors market for these and some are extemely valuable and others not. The Hispano Suiza had a stork as a mascot, and each marque had it’s own – Jaguar for example and the early version of this is highly collectible.

    The most famous mascots are those of Réné Lalique dating from the late 1920’s and early 1930’s in frosted glass. The form of manufacture and composition of the glass died with Réné but it is known to contain arsenic so even if known the manufacture today would be prohibited. Perhaps his most famous is "Spirit of the Wind" (also known as Victoire) but go here to see a complete list and photos of his mascots. Some are now fetching over $30,000 or £18,000.

    http://www.go-star.com/antiquing/lalique1005.htm

    Also better photos can be found here. I collected these years ago but prices are now out of my reach. My favourite is still Chrysys.

    http://www.mascot-mania.co.uk/orphanage.html?/glassdesigns.html&19orphan57
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  10. a Bonnet Mascot, most are illegal now as they can injure pedestrains unless they are like spirit of ectasty on a Rolls that dissappears into the grille
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  11. The little sculpture, I guess…
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