Are all bronze figures actually solid bronze?

No. Spelter is named in 18 of the titles on Sellingantiques and bronzed finishes in 13, with brass and copper alloy also appearing. Spelter is a zinc alloy cast to look like bronze; bronzed means a bronze-coloured surface over another metal. Solid bronze and gilt bronze hold the upper end of the range. The metal named in the title is the plainest guide to where a figure sits.

Why do so many listings just say 19th century?

Because it's the bracket dealers reach for when a piece carries no date. Of 330 listings, 108 give '19th Century' as the period, and 17 give 'Victorian', which is a label rather than a year. Where decades are recorded they gather between the 1870s and the 1930s, with the 1900s, 1920s and 1890s the fullest. The dated field as a whole runs 1800 to 1960.

What are Grand Tour bronzes?

Souvenir reductions of famous antique statues, sold to travellers in Italy. They appear in 21 titles and stay close to a fixed repertoire. Medici portraits, the Borghese Gladiator, Spinario, Narcissus, the Dying Gaul and the Drunken Faun of Pompeii come round again and again, often catalogued 'after the antique'.

How common are signed bronzes?

Uncommon. 'Signed' appears in 9 titles out of 330, and 'after' in 12, which points to a borrowed model rather than an original hand. Most of the lower and middle range is catalogued simply as a bronze figure with no name attached. Where a sculptor or foundry is recorded, it lifts the piece.

Do these turn up as pairs?

Often enough that it's a habit of the category rather than a curiosity. 'Pair' occurs in 40 titles. Matched lions, temple lions, Marley horses, putti, muses and personified seasons all recur. An intact pair sits above a comparable single.

What Asian figures appear in this category?

Roughly a fifth of the category is Asian. Japanese work leads, with 16 titles naming it and 11 carrying the Meiji label, alongside okimono and animal subjects. Buddha figures appear in 13 titles, and Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, Thai, Indian and Javanese pieces run through the samples. Large Japanese and Sino-Tibetan work holds the very top of the sampled range.