Mystery Object 2

[The Doc]

candlestick minus the stick??? 

Nothing to do with candles James

[seeker]

is it for catching big spiders as they run across the floor

[Stig(The)]

Peter,is the base missing? If so i think it could be a pyrophorus vase.
Also known as instant light-boxes !

[The Doc]

Not for spiders and not a pyrophorous vase - I'd never heard of those Stig - would have been a good mystery object though

[Stig(The)]

Here you go Pete,read it &  WEEP Learn  

'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.

[The Doc]

Thanks Stig - you learn something new every day

[The Doc]

Here's a different type of the same artefact as the mystery object. Something went inside it....

[borderfox.1495]

ball of string john

[benny]

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.

[Nick]

Looks like an incense burner to me

[Neil]

Is it a pomeander for keeping clothing smelling nice?

Neil

[The Doc]

ball of string john

Well done John, you are correct.

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.