No 10. More Tampering ...... and a strange fork.

It’s over 2 months ago since I covered Pipe Tampers, and as you know I have nearly 50 different examples, so this time I am covering some more Tampers, and you will continue to see the infinite number of styles and materials.

I don’t know why some do and some don’t, but todays selection of Tampers have flat heads, rather than the cross-hatched style. As a non-smoker, I can’t comment which one is best for compacting tobacco, but I’ll do some market research when I encounter a pipe smoker – probably not the easiest to find these days!

    

                                                                             

 The first leg is a nice piece of dark Treen wood. It was created c1790, making it Georgian.  Solid pieces of wood like this, are ideal for carving, and this one really shows off the muscles of clearly a male leg. I bought it at the NEC in 2014 when it was stated to be fruit wood and “with a good patina”.  There are two words often used to describe a wood carving, Patina and Tactile.

Patina refers to the sheen on the wood which becomes evident after a lot of polishing and touching, and with age. And clearly linked is Tactile, which describes something that is touchable. So the Tamper that someone wants to touch, by the touching and coupling with age, helps to enhance the patina!  

Sadly there is a slight nick in the tamping end, and perhaps the foot looks a little out of proportion! The way the top of the boot has been carved cleverly gives the impression of 2 bonded pieces of wood, but I think not – I think this is just the top of the boot.

 

The second leg is one of the few ivory legs,  bought in the learning days, and coincidentally leg No 3. I’ve previously explained the history of how I started leg collecting, and this was one of the first legs. It is ivory, and the engraving has P on one side and T on the other, I guess in case someone did not know that it was a Pipe Tamper!  I believe the tip is ebonite, and judging by the positioning of the “lace holes”, it is a right leg, for a lady….. but I could be wrong!!

Regrettably I was given no receipt or evidence of the leg’s origins so sadly there is little history of this smart Tamper.  .

 

The third Tamper is a petite brass leg probably undoubtedly carried by a lady. I bought this a couple of years ago at a good quality Antique Fair near Exeter,  which Mary and I try to get to once or twice a year. As I said, it does not have cross hatching but unusually it has an inscription instead. It appears that the company gifting the leg used the space to publicise the company. The inscription reads ”Use D & S Switches”.  Sadly I can find nothing certain to explain the engraving although I understand what conventional switches are.  In Post number two I wrote about combs given as promotional gifts, and I must assume, particularly with the word “Use”, that it is another promotional gift. It is effectively encouraging the recipients to use a particular device. It is however surprising that encouragement is on a leg which would be the size used by a lady, perhaps unlikely to use D & S Switches!”      A couple of enigmas there!

 

Just to continue demonstrating the huge variety in my legs collection, I’m including three angles of a device described as a Flesh Fork. I acquired it in 1995 at the NEC.  The invoice states “c19c steel and copper flesh fork with ladies leg handle”.  It is 15ins long and weighs in at 10 ounces. (Consider a normal fork weighs only a fraction at 1 ¼ ounces.)

        

      

 

 

 

 As a “Flesh Fork” it is somewhat akin to a BBQ spit. If it is what it is called, then it would be held in front of or over a flame, and the meat turned as required to get completely cooked. The trouble is, I’m not sure. 4 tines is correct for a 19^th century fork, but I am more inclined to think this fork would more likely be used for toasting bread.

Contemplating the tines (prongs) it was only in the 1700’s  that forks with 4 tines started to be accepted as a tool to use during meals.  If you go back to centuries prior to the 1700’s spoons were used in place of forks, and alongside knives. Also in the older forks with 2 or 3 tines were more likely used for piercing food, and not for collecting it to take to the mouth. Indeed 2 or 3 tined forks were uncomfortable to take in the mouth.

In further research, I find that the net describes a flesh fork as  a large long-handled fork used to lift meat (from the pot).

Undoubtedly there was some heavy anvil work to produce the good shape with the mixture of steel and copper and, like the majority of my legs, it does what the name says!!

This time we have 4 true antiques, and next time in the second post for June I plan to show you some legs in the Collectable category!