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Title: Mystery Object 2 Post by: The Doc on November 06, 2009, 11:35:17 PM This is about 3 inches tall, and British or American. It looks like wood, but is actually cast brass.
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: Terry on November 06, 2009, 11:40:53 PM is it a salt seller
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: Nick on November 06, 2009, 11:54:44 PM My thoughts exactly, it's the right shape.
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: seeker on November 06, 2009, 11:56:47 PM is it an auction gavel ???
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: TheLoveDoc on November 07, 2009, 07:35:02 AM first thing that pops in my little mind is a bell ? :-\
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: Jonola (Jon) on November 07, 2009, 08:47:57 AM A candle snuffer?
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: Tafflaff (Rob) on November 07, 2009, 01:24:20 PM Is there a hole going from top to bottom Peter? If so it a type of loom weight?
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: kaister on November 07, 2009, 01:53:16 PM the thing victorians used to use on curtains.
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: Kev on November 07, 2009, 04:41:57 PM I'm guessing A BELL ???
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: The Doc on November 07, 2009, 07:11:56 PM Nobody's right yet, here's a picture of the top
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: 150aceboy on November 07, 2009, 07:20:09 PM A school bell ???
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: 150aceboy on November 07, 2009, 07:21:21 PM or an ink well ???
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: betel23 on November 07, 2009, 08:38:47 PM Inkwell cover.
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: The Doc on November 07, 2009, 08:45:23 PM Nothing to do with bells or inkwells.
here's a pic from underneath Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: James on November 07, 2009, 08:52:34 PM candlestick minus the stick??? ;) :)
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: The Doc on November 07, 2009, 08:58:46 PM candlestick minus the stick??? ;) :) Nothing to do with candles James Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: seeker on November 07, 2009, 09:04:14 PM is it for catching big spiders as they run across the floor ;D
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: Stig(The) on November 07, 2009, 09:18:45 PM Peter,is the base missing? If so i think it could be a pyrophorus vase.
Also known as instant light-boxes ! Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: The Doc on November 07, 2009, 09:33:39 PM Not for spiders and not a pyrophorous vase - I'd never heard of those Stig - would have been a good mystery object though ;D
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: Stig(The) on November 07, 2009, 09:39:41 PM Here you go Pete,read it &
'Pyrophorus vases' were ancestors of the modern match box. Their name derived from the Greek, pur for 'fire' and phoros for 'bringing'. 'Instant light boxes' had been made in metal since 1810, and in 1812 Wedgwood began to manufacture them in a decorative ceramic version. The idea of making them in pottery came from the chemists Accum & Garden of Compton Street, Soho, London, who supplied Wedgwood with the matches, acid and acid bottles. The vases were soon copied at Josiah Spode's factory. Use Wooden splints were held in the central hole. One end of the splints had been dipped in chlorate of potash and sugar. When dipped in sulphuric acid these produced a flame. Pyrophorus vases were initially popular, probably because of their novelty, but they were not made after about 1830. Soon after this date the first friction matches of the modern type were introduced. By the mid-19th century the original purpose of these vases had been forgotten, and for more than a century they were thought to have been inkwells. Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: The Doc on November 07, 2009, 10:11:06 PM Thanks Stig - you learn something new every day ;D
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: The Doc on November 07, 2009, 10:12:11 PM Here's a different type of the same artefact as the mystery object. Something went inside it....
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: borderfox.1495 on November 07, 2009, 10:34:32 PM ball of string john
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: benny on November 07, 2009, 10:47:01 PM Is it something to do with weaving then just going by borderfox's guess it does look like something that dispenses a thread of some kind.
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: Nick on November 07, 2009, 10:55:42 PM Looks like an incense burner to me
Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: Neil on November 07, 2009, 11:04:03 PM Is it a pomeander for keeping clothing smelling nice?
Neil Title: Re: Mystery Object 2 Post by: The Doc on November 07, 2009, 11:30:17 PM ball of string john Well done John, you are correct. ;D ;D ;D They are string dispensers, from the 19th century. The ball of string goes inside, the end sticks out of the top and you pull out and cut off as much as you want. |