Mystery Object.
Been a very busy week, and have had no spare time for blogging. However, earlier in the week I purchased the small object in the two pictures. I took delivery of it this morning, and thought it would make a good Mystery Object. In the upper picture it is shown perched on top of my smaller anvil outside my potting shed/forge.
In the lower picture it is shown beside a fifty pence piece to give some idea of size. It is just over two inches long and just over an inch high. The object of the exercise is to guess when and where it was made, and for what purpose. It does have, in fact, a quite specific purpose.
Good guessing, and, of course, a Good Night to you all.
13 comments:
All right, I'm going to get in first here. So what do you mean that in the "upper picture" the one thing is sitting on the other, because I only see one thing !! And then in the second picture you show us an anvil the size of a 50 pence piece !!! The only use I can think of is to put your rings on when you retire for the night. So long as you don't have more than two. Have I cracked it ??????
I think you've set us a real conundrum with this one Mike. They occur in myriad shapes and sizes and are produced in every industrialized country in the world. A new one in stainless steel will cost you about £15. Birmingham was probably the largest producer when yours was made but Eastern Europe and China are major producers now.
I think it's a cast steel Jeweler's Anvil for bullion Wire Work made in Birmingham between 1880 and 1920.
Is it a jewellers anvil for doing stuff with rings? 1847 German?
Or it could be an original 17th Century Quipu used for facing down opponents by champion Scrabble players
Hello Paul. Well done! You've got in first. But....
Other than that, I fear;
Your answer is nowhere near.
When all the answers are in, I'll try and put up another picture showing the object on top of an anvil, which is in turn, on top of another anvil. This, I'm afraid has nothing whatever to do with the purpose of the smallest object.
Dear Crowbard. Nor has your, erudite as always, answer, anything to do with the purpose of the mystery object.
Hello Rog. to deal with your two comments - (1) No, and (2) NO, it could not be a 17th century quipu! a quipu is, as you are no doubt aware, a mnemonic contrivance of knotted string used by the ancient Peruvians to send letters and keep records. It's only known use in the modern world is to confound opponents at Scrabble (for which purpose it is retained in most good dictionaries).
Come on chaps (and chapesses) keep trying. Use your perceptive facilities and imagination - it's not really that difficult.
Under intense magnification and imaginative scrutiny, I believe there is a hint of a hinge-pin at one end and a suggestion of a lid. Could this be a black-smith's or farrier's snuff-box, Mike? English, C.19th.
Bit big for a snuff-box though, too chunky for a vesta-case so possibly a tinder-box, a bit earlier than first impression, say late C.18th. or early C.19th. I still think it's English but anywhere in Europe would not surprise me.
Jude suggested that the size might indicate a table snuff-box as the horn would be an inconvenience in a pocket.
Yes! Well done, Crowbard. Full marks, well 99 percent, anyway. I would date it at probably late eighteenth century/ early 19th century date. It's a nice little item. Check next blog entry for full details.
I think Jude has a very valid point - not really suitable for a pocket, except perhaps in the pocket of a blacksmith's leather apron. I think though, if the blacksmith were someone like the late Alty Evisson, the small anvil ((apparently) would be kept on a shelf somewhere, on full view, and in company with other smaller tools. He would then wait for people to ask him what the tiny anvil was for making, and would come up some amazing stories!!
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