Snapshot of my full size anvil, with the smaller anvil slotted into it, and the miniature anvil form snuff box on top.
Snapshot of the anvil / snuff box on the small anvil.
Anvil shaped snuff box, with the lid half open.
Anvil snuff box with the lid fully open, showing the mirror inset inside the lid.
The mystery object is an iron snuff box (as worked out by Crowbard -well done!), with a mirror inset inside the lid. The point of that is that if you have just snuffed, you check the reflection of the whiskers, especially if they are white, for traces of snuff, which is brown, then wipe the whiskers clean.
The mystery object is, of course, a snuff box made in the shape of a blacksmith's anvil, most probably for (and possibly by) a blacksmith. It appears to be English, and is probably of eighteenth century date.
Thanks for taking part.
13 comments:
I was with Rog's original direction, I thought it might be for beating the cases of Swiss watches, or making filigree, or something. Some people would do anything for fun back then, wouldn't they? But of course they didn't have television. Has anybody marketed a snuffbox in the shape of a TV remote control yet?
Hello Tim. Haven't had a telly for twenty odd years (I'm afraid that remark- though true- is usually rather a conversation stopper!)
I think you were a tad mischievous in photographing the little anvil on a big anvil which used the power of auto-suggestion to direct us weak minded souls down a blind alley. Thank goodness Crowbard got his magnifying glass out and put us straight.
I don't suppose you do much forge-work these days Mike, apart from tempering springs and blueing steel?
Hi Mike and Ann, love your blog! I'm a pommie girl living in Australia, (originally from Sussex). I came across your blog researching ancient roof finials for one of my novels and love all your musings and photos. I lived in Norway for part of my childhood and got a bit homesick at the photos of stave churches etc. I write for kids. You can see what I get up to here: www.dawnmeredithauthor.blogspot.com. I'd love to move back to UK someday. Keep up the great work! cheers, Dawn
I think telly was invented for people with less interesting lives than yours and Ann's, Mike.
Possibly for folk in remote places who felt they had little control over their lives?
Hello Rog. Tad mischievous ? Perhaps, but it worked.
Hello Dawn. Thanks for getting in touch. Just had a quick look at your blog, and am impressed. Looking forward to having a good look at it. Just back from three days in London, and am busy catching up. Please stay in touch. Warm regards, Mike and Ann.
Hello Crowbard. I do some blacksmithing when necessary. Twice during the last year I've had to make an iron part for a gun lock. I probably have to use one of the two anvils perhaps ten or a dozen times per annnum, and then nothing else will serve. 'Give me one fixed point......' as the fellow said, and my large anvil is as near a fixed point as I will ever need.
Regards, Mike.
Archimedes, however, in writing to King Hiero, whose friend and near relation he was, had stated that given the force, any given weight might be moved, and even boasted, we are told, relying on the strength of demonstration, that if there were another earth, by going into it he could remove this.
ΚΑΙ ΜΕΝΤΟΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΡΧΙΜΗΔΗΣ, ΙΕΡΩΝΙ ΤΩ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙ ΣΥΓΓΕΝΗΣ ΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΦΙΛΟΣ, ΕΓΡΑΨΕΝ ΩΣ ΤΗ ΔΟΘΕΙ ΣΗ ΔΥΝΑΜΕΙ ΤΟ ΔΟΘΕΝ ΒΑΡΟΣ ΚΙΝΗΣΑΙ ΔΥΝΑΤΟΝ ΕΣΤΙ, ΚΑΙ ΝΕΑΝΙΕΥΣΑΜΕΝΟΣ, ΩΣ ΦΑΣΙ, ΡΩΜΗ ΤΗΣ ΑΠΟΔΕΙΞΕΩΣ ΕΙΠΕΝ ΩΣ, ΕΙ ΓΗΝ ΕΙΧΕΝ ΕΤΕΡΑΝ, ΕΚΙΝΗΣΕΝ ΑΝ ΤΑΥΤΗΝ ΜΕΤΑΒΑΣ ΕΙΣ ΕΚΕΙΝΗΝ.
Plutarch (c. 45-120 AD) Life of Marcellus Translated by John Dryden (1631-1700)
Archimedes, that he might transport the entire globe from the place it occupied to another, demanded only a point that was firm and immovable; so, also, I shall be entitled to entertain the highest expectations, if I am fortunate enough to discover only one thing that is certain and indubitable.
Nihil nisi punctum petebat Archimedes, quod esset firmum & immobile, ut integram terram loco dimoveret; magna quoque speranda sunt, si vel minimum quid invenero quod certum sit & inconcussum.
René Descartes (1596-1650) Meditations On First Philosophy, Meditation II, 1641 Translated by John Veitch
Again, he [Archimedes] used to say, in the Doric speech of Syracuse : “Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.”
ΕΛΕΓΕ ΔΕ ΚΑΙ ΔΩΡΙΣΤΙ ΦΩΝΗ ΣΥΡΑΚΟΥΣΙΑ, “ΠΑ ΒΩ ΚΑΙ ΧΑΡΙΣΤΙΩΝΙ ΤΑΝ ΓΑΝ ΚΙΝΗΣΩ ΠΑΣΑΝ.”
John Tzetzes, C.12th Book of Histories (Chiliades) 2, 129-130. Translated by Francis R. Walton.
Thank you Crowbard. Yes, Archimedes was the chap to whom I was referring.
I think Carl's computer is broken!!!
oh dear, Carl's computer seems to be broken!
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