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- *Pricing varies depending on the installation rod selected, any design modifications, and the options chosen.
Pictured above is our basic Standing Donkey Weather Vane, Equus africanus asinus. It has been detailed with the addition of optional gold leaf on the mane, muzzle, tail, belly patch, Jerusalem cross and eye rings. We used brown glass eyes with black pupils to give the donkey an animated and lifelike appearance.
This Standing Donkey Weathervane looks nice with the optional gilding as it has such distinctive markings, but it conveys its essence nicely when viewed solely in copper. The markings on its back are known as a Jerusalem Cross in honor of the donkey’s historic association with both Mary and Jesus. This is a popular design and we have representatives in Hawaii, Georgia, Pennsylvania and California.
You can also choose to have your donkey with highly textured fur. As can be seen in the pictures below. This added detail is quite extraordinary, and it takes our skilled artisans much longer to add this level of repoussé. Pricing for this enhancement is shown at right.
The donkeys represented here stand on a simple horizontal copper tube. Other options include adding grasses for a pastoral effect, or one of a variety of different arrows available here at West Coast Weather Vanes. If interested, please contact us for details.
Asses were first domesticated around 3000 BC, or 4000 BC, probably in Egypt or Mesopotamia, and have spread around the world. They continue to fill important roles in many places today. While domesticated species are increasing in numbers, the African wild ass and another relative, the Onager, are endangered. As beasts of burden and companions, asses and donkeys have worked together with humans for millennia.
The donkey is also famous as the national symbol for the United States Democratic Party. To give equal billing, the Elephant is the national symbol for the United States Republican Party. If you are feeling particularly patriotic a wonderful pairing of weathervanes would be the American Flag weathervane in conjunction with either the Elephant weathervane or the Donkey Weathervane!