Reordering
Repeat Bronze Orders: Will Batch Two Match Batch One?
Reordering cast bronze from Vietnam: what repeats exactly, what only comes close, and how to write a purchase order that makes matching checkable.
Form repeats almost exactly, size repeats inside 1–3 cm, colour repeats closely but never identically. The same pattern, alloy and finisher give you a shelf that reads as one family — not two identical pieces, because patina goes on by hand over heat. Plan the reorder around that and it is a non-issue; hope for perfection and the second container becomes an argument.
What repeats, and how closely
| Feature | How closely it repeats | Why | When it is a fault |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall form and proportion | Effectively identical | One pattern per item, kept between runs | A different pattern was used |
| Height and width | within 1–3 cm | Hand moulding, shrinkage on cooling, hand chasing | over 5 cm — we recast |
| Set proportions | Crane 5–7 cm taller than the burner; candlesticks 12–15 cm shorter; bowl about a third of burner height | Fixed rules, not taste | Outside those windows |
| Wall thickness | 5 mm body, 8 mm at load points | Pour and chasing vary by hand | Thin or porous walls |
| Patina colour | Close, not identical | Applied by hand over heat | Wrong finish code applied |
| Chased detail | Close | Cut by hand, piece by piece | Flat, shallow or missing detail |
Keep a control piece. We keep its record.
Memory is a poor reference and a phone photograph is worse. Hold one piece back from the first batch, unsold, with its item code on the carton. When you reorder, we work from the finish record of your first order and you compare the arrival against the piece on your shelf.
If you would rather not tie up stock, send one piece back with the reorder and we keep it at the bench while your batch is finished. Either way, ask for photographs of the new pieces beside the reference under one light before the balance is paid — that check belongs in quality control, not after arrival.
Why colour drifts between batches
- Patina is chemistry plus heat, applied by hand with a brush, not a dip tank on a timer.
- Alloy comes from batches of ingot and reclaimed metal; the copper, zinc and tin ratio moves slightly from melt to melt.
- Workshop air in July is not workshop air in January, and patination follows temperature and humidity.
- The gap between polishing and patination changes how fast the colour takes, and wax thickness changes the depth you read as colour.
- Your shop lighting. A 4000 K LED strip makes the same piece look cooler and greyer than a showroom halogen. Compare under one lamp or not at all.
Order so the batches never have to match
- Buy a five-piece set complete in one batch. Never split a set across two shipments — a mismatched candlestick in a matched set is the one complaint you cannot answer.
- Buy display stock and its first replenishment together, then promote the spare when the display piece sells.
- Group by shelf. Pieces that stand side by side ship together; pieces sold singly — a statue, a vase, a plaque — can come from any run.
- Reorder by the finish code written on the quotation, not by a description like “the dark one”.
- An addition to a set bought two years ago is matching work, not a reorder — that is what restoration and matching is for, and it is quoted differently.
Patterns, tooling and the clock
A repeat is only quick if the pattern still exists. For catalogue items we hold our own. For a piece cast to your drawing, who owns the tooling, how long it is held and what happens if you stop ordering are set out on our OEM and tooling page — read it before you pay for a pattern, not when you want batch three.
Tell us at the first order whether repeats are coming: a pattern made for one run and one made to be pulled twenty times are not built the same way.
And a repeat is not warehouse stock. Everything is cast to order, so it takes the same 21–30 days of casting and finishing as a first order, plus sea time. Buyers who plan one as if it ships next week end up air-freighting bronze, and a size-65 altar set at about 36 kg makes that an expensive lesson. Payment and Incoterms sit on our trade terms page.
Five lines to put in the purchase order
- Finish code exactly as it appears on the quotation.
- Reference: “to match control piece held by buyer / foundry, item code …”
- Tolerance: “dimensional variation of 1–3 cm accepted; over 5 cm rejected.”
- Set integrity: “complete sets to be cast and finished in one run.”
- Inspection: photographs beside the reference, or third-party inspection at your cost, before the balance falls due.
Those five lines cost nothing and remove almost every argument a repeat order can produce — the same discipline you use when checking samples before the first one.
Frequently asked questions
Can you guarantee the same colour as last time?
No, and any foundry that does is describing a dip tank. We hold the same finish code, recipe and bench, and show both pieces side by side in photographs before shipping.
A reordered piece is 4 cm taller than the first. Is that acceptable?
Yes, within our stated window. We call 1–3 cm normal for hand casting and treat anything over 5 cm as a fault to be recast. Between the two it comes down to the piece and where it stands.
Can I send a piece back as the reference?
Yes. Send it with the order confirmation; we keep it at the finishing bench until your batch is done and return it in the shipment if you want it back.
Do you keep a record of what I ordered?
Yes — item, size, finish code and any engraving are kept against your order, so a reorder is quoted from the record instead of a fresh round of questions.
Is there a separate minimum for a repeat order?
Minimums are set by order value rather than by piece, so a small repeat is usually combined with other items into one shipment. Send the line list and we will say plainly whether it works as it stands.
Reordering, or planning one? Send the original order reference or a line list with finish codes through the request a quote form or on WhatsApp at +84 926 199 999. A quotation comes back in two working days.