No 25 From Perfume to a Toothpick - another selection of rarity

I'd hoped to get one last post before Xmas as the previous one was December 8 so I’m about spot on!

With things like Covid and Omicron causing havoc with antique fairs, I have only added 9 legs this year, due to the reduced number of fairs.  The november NEC did have one possible leg, a bronze tamper, but the price dissuaded me.

Anyway, I have 4 legs for you this time, 4 completely different examples

This brass bottle opener I was given in 2016 by a kind birding friend who kindly gave me the door knocker leg that I wrote about in post No 15.   And again she found this in an antique shop in Norfolk. (most useful to have someone searching on my behalf!!)  It has no markings but the shape identifies it as a left leg. It is also quite heavy, an ideal tool for taking off crimped metal bottle caps.

The next one is perhaps an odd inclusion, but it has a link with a leg.

Some of you may have owned one of the 4” x 3” handheld pocket games that were popular in the 1960’s. You were required to move the box so that small metal balls or beads or pieces of plastic inside were manoeuvred into the correct position, sometimes in dips, some on hooks etc. With balls the skill was to try and position all the balls without disturbing any of the others.

I saw this little game in 2016 at a Stafford fare and decided it had a tenable link.   It is German, and the game is to position the black shoe to cover the foot.

Inside the game is printed:-

Preiswerete                                  Translates as “cheap”.  Probably better as Inexpensive!

Jlona  Schuhe                               Jlona,  presumably the make;     Schuhe - Shoes

Einwandfreie   Qualitaten       Impeccable quality.

The drawing of the leg looks like a stocking with a suspender, but the conclusion is that the game is a German promotional customer give-away nto promote a quality shoe shop. There is a store in Derby called Schuhe.

The third leg is the 50^th in my collection and one of my favourites. It is a perfume bottle which I bought at a Uttoxeter antique fair in  2013. I had purchased a leg shaped Vesta which I have yet to show you, and when I told the stall holder about my hobby, he said “have you seen the scent bottle?” Not having spotted it, as soon as he found it for me the decision was instant.

It comprises an unmarked steel frame in the shape of a high heeled shoe which stands upright. The toe has 13 small glittery glass crystals.  A glass leg-shaped bottle fits firmly into the frame and is topped by  a screw stopper with a tassel. The stopper is fitted with an internal glass wand used to apply perfume to the skin.

The  last leg is one of the few Ivory items I have and is the only Toothpick in my collection. Bought in 2013 at a Kedleston fair, it is the only leg toothpick I have ever seen and dates to the 20^th Century.

The toothpick is a bit fragile, with the thin pointed pick hinging out from the body. There are no markings or carvings to indicate whether the leg is left or right.

 

 

Well that’s it for 2021 – 25 posts is just about two each month, and I’ve covered 82 legs from my 160 collection. Hopefully 2022 will add a few more additions than I had this year, but Pipe Tampers will continue to be dominant. 

 

Just before I close, I’ll wish you all a very happy Xmas and a healthy 2022, and if you encounter any legs that you think may interest me, a message on my blog ideally with a photo will get me up and running.  I see many Oriental antique buyers at fairs photographing antiques on their phones, so that they can send them home for a decision. I’m happy to join that communication network!!

Best wishes

 

David