No 11. Wine Bottle Accessories - Corkscrews and Bottle Stoppers

A bit of elaboration for you, I hope! I have been asked what is the difference between antique and vintage. I have explained antiques before being items over 100 years old. Items over 20 years old are often called vintage. A further clarification is that antique refers to an item, whereas vintage refers to the time when an object was made. For example, “that watch is an antique”, and “that other watch is of Victorian vintage”. A bit clearer?.

I have included 32 legs so far in my 10 posts, of which 24 have been true antiques. The legs in this blog are most definitely NOT!

A subject that appeals to many people are bottle openers!  I have three different types and I must stress that they are virtually 100% for opening alcohol bottles!!

The first opener category is Corkscrews which are principally used for opening wine bottles  A vast range of corkscrew styles and materials have evolved over time,  but mine, of course, are those shaped as a leg.  

The second category are those of a lever nature, used for levering off a metal bottle top that has been “clamped” around the bottle top lip. Most frequently used for beer but also splits such as Tonic, Ginger etc.   I have one other very old-style leg which works by gripping the stopper or cork but that unusual version and the levers I will save for another day.

In this post I am only covering corkscrews.   Because of the function carried out,  corkscrews need to be sturdy, and these five examples are metal, and are all made by the same company. My best information is that they were made in c2000.

                                                            

There is no makers name on any of the corkscrews, but they each have the inscription “UK. Des.Reg. Pat Pend”.   They all measure the same, 2 ins by 3 ins and each work on exactly the same principle. They have 2 hinged arms which are opened outwards and upwards to reveal the downward pointing screw mechanism, as can be seen on the cricketer. When horizontal each one is 7 inches long and is then held in the hand, to rotate, penetrate and extract the cork.            

My first corkscrew was the Golfer, bought at a Uttoxeter antique fair in 2011 for £6!! The next one, the Footballer was bought in 2012 at Kedleston and then it was 6 years before I found the Fisherman, which I negotiated down from £14 to £10.   Big time negotiating! The last 2 both came in 2020, the Cricketer then the Scotsman, completing the collection.      So, £56 for the 5…I was happy with that. I have no idea how many different pastimes or hobbies are represented.. it was a long time before I bought the second one, so I keep looking. They can be bought on e-bay.

The internet shows some German corkscrews, all being similar is style and the same mechanism, said to be 19th century. There are pairs for sale at c£395, which price is not uncommon.  A number of years ago I was at a quality antique fair at the NEC and talked to a stall holder who only sold antique corkscrews. In his display he had a number of leg style corkscrews with stocking in a variety of coloured stripes. They were all legs with the same neutral pattern from the heel to the thigh. But they had different coloured stockings coming different distances up the leg.   The stall holder told me that where the stockings stopped, indicated different levels of promiscuity!!

Stockings that came above the knee were worn by Ladies; stockings only up as far as the calf were ladies with amorous intentions, and no stockings – you can guess the rest.  If I had been interested I could have bought a set of 3 for the best part of £1,000. I declined.

 

Completely different and very high on the Naff scale, are these three leg shaped Bottle Stoppers.    They are included purely because they ARE legs. Not quality, not antique but sometimes you find legs that as a dedicated collector, you must not be prudish, and you MUST include them.

I would remind you of a shoehorn that I wrote about in Blog No 5 in April.  That was a plastic shoe horn, which until I acquired the chimneys, was rated as the most naff, and I recall when I purchased it in 2011 I apologised for its inclusion!!

These are all bottle stoppers, with a rubber graduated cork which will seal a bottle.  They all have the words “www.laureston designs.co. ltd”

The dancing legs with the tutu I bought from a London Souvenirs stall in Covent Garden in 2018; just two days and 73 miles later I added the Father Xmas at Brackley, Northants antique centre!!  Currently they can be found on the net at £8.50 each!! – I paid £4 each.  AND the third stopper, the Yob (?) was a kind gift from a neighbour only this month who spotted it whilst on holiday, and said they reminded him of me ??

I Hope you found these variations from the straight and narrow, amusing diversions. There are no more shock surprises, well not at this time.

The Microtibialist