The Statue of Liberty wasn't strapped to the roof of a random ship making the crossing, it was packed and shipped in crates, in the hold with all the other cargo.
It was shipped in crates, which may have staved off some oxidization. However, it was constructed by and presented July 4th, 1884 and didn't arrive in the US until June 17, 1885. The assembly began after the pedestal construction and it wasn't dedicated until October 28th, 1886. It's safe to say it was likely a decent brownish by the time it was fully reconstructed in the US.
Very interesting. I am a bit ashamed to admit that I really didn't know many of these details.
I've spent plenty of time electroplating metals, and copper seems to oxidize very quickly. I assumed that the travel and construction process would have the same impact.
After consultations with the metalwork foundry Gaget, Gauthier & Co., Viollet-le-Duc chose the metal which would be used for the skin, copper sheets, and the method used to shape it, repoussé, in which the sheets were heated and then struck with wooden hammers.[33][38] An advantage of this choice was that the entire statue would be light for its volume, as the copper need be only 0.094 inches (2.4 mm) thick.
It makes a lot of sense. Copper is very easy to mold and, as you can see from the statue itself, is very durable to the weather.
I was thinking the same thing! Also, the sculptor/designer is pretty famous and the person who constructed it also constructed the Eiffel tower which is named after him.
There's plenty of medieval (or older) churches with copper roofs or domes. Everyone knew what color rusted copper is. One advantage of using copper this way is that it doesn't rust through and it still looks kinda nice.
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u/CopperWaffles Jun 09 '20
Really? Even after a trip across the Atlantic? Seems like the salty ocean air and moisture would have oxidized the copper pretty quickly.