Please view all photos as they are part of the description. As all computer screens are a bit different, the animal's coat may appear different via computer screen than it does in person. It is not a pure, bright whit--more of a creamy off white is how I would describe it.
This is being sold as-is, no returns. I am selling it for a friend who is acting as conservator of his partner's estate. She is in memory care, and this belonged to her--the money will be put toward her bills. Therefore, I set this up as an auction and hopefully I can get a good price for it.
I think this is a male dall sheep shoulder mount, based at looking at other listings and photos of such sheep on the internet. It is approximately 26" wide at the widest point and about 24" long from the top of the head to the end of the wool on the front side.
From the little bit of reading I did on this species, I am guessing this fellow was an elder statesman of his herd--the many rings on the horns and the nice full curl indicate he had a long, successful life. One of the most attractive things to me is the fullness of his coat--lots of the mounts I looked at have the slicker, shorter hair. I think his thick coat makes him look wise, stately and majestic. I was tempted to buy it from my friend and hang it alongside a shoulder
bison mount I inherited (that came home with my dad one day years ago,
much to my mother's chagrin) but I am trying to sell things and not
accumulate more!
I looked up the taxidermist, and it turns out Schwarz was founded in 1882, and is our country's oldest taxidermist in business still after all these years. AI search said this: "Notable clients have included Adolphus Busch, William Jennings Bryan, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the St. Louis Zoo, where Frank Schwarz was a key founder in 1911."
The mount had been sitting in a dry garage so it has a bit in the way of little specs of dust and debris in the wool (mostly on the back side that will be toward the wall.) You could perhaps use a blow dryer on the cool setting to blow the specs off and hand-pick any larger specs. Really, if you have this guy hung up high, nobody will be able to see anything, I think, and a wild animal like this would have lots of stuff stuck in his wool, wouldn't he?
It does not have any kind of "off" odor as far as I can detect--it is not musty-smelling to me and does not smell like cigarette smoke. Basically smells like wool to me. This mount would look great in a cabin, lodge, bar, restaurant, etc.
UPS ground shipping is estimated-- I will refund the difference to the winner, if any, after the mount is boxed up and final weight/size is determined.
Happy bidding, and thanks for viewing this listing.