this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2026
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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
BUT WHY DIDN'T THEY LACQUER IT
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
Did the author never saw oxidised copper or smth?
I'm just laughing by today's standards.