First of all a very happy New Year to my reader, and I hope we both have a very happy and healthy 2022.
As I
approach the writing of each post, I find myself trying to decide which legs
will make an interesting and possibly related group. This is easy with 3 or 4
Pipe Tampers, as they are obviously related. But some legs are unique like a
pair of calipers – what could link with that.,
To
help my planning, I built up a spread-sheet (Mary will comment at this point!!)
of groups. For example I found that of my 160 legs, I have 70 that are smoking
related. There are 23 relating to personal grooming, like combs, shoe-horns and
button hooks and 16 relate to drinking!
So the first post in 2022 kicks off with
three legs that could not be more different – two of them fit well into the
little and large category!
The little one is a small bronze charm in fact I think the smallest in my collection. I see many legs in copper so it is nice to come across bronze items that have that golden look about them. Previously I talked about a bronze shoe horn and that had the same very rough look as with this charm. Remember that Bronze is one of the toughest known materials and it’s origins goes back forever!! Think, the Bronze Age. 3,300 – 1,200 BC.
Large
hoards of Bronze artifacts found worldwide suggests that Bronze used to be a
store of value and indicator of wealth and social status.
This
little feller was only £3 at a pre-Covid fair in Stafford and would appear to
be a charm. I have never come across charms made of bronze, but the loop must
indicate it is to be used/worn. No markings. It is undoubtedly old but I have
no way of knowing how old.
And now
for something different… a glass bottle! …which also qualifies as the largest
leg. Just fits in my display box. In fact my research has made me change my
mind on it’s purpose…see below!!
This is a 9 inch glass bottle bought at a fair in Uttoxeter in 2015. It is modelled on a left leg, with a buttoned boot reaching the calf. The base has the appearance of a boot on cobblestones, and the bottle is hollow throughout.
Seeking
further information I took it to the BBC Antique Roadshow at Bolsover Castle on
9th July 2015 and showed it to the glass expert – Andy McConnell. He
said it was a bottle to hold dragees (coated sweets such as sugared almonds) and
French.
HOWEVER,
on the base of the glass is the inscription Depose. And this word refers to a
French design patent. I do in fact have four other non-leg glass bottles with
the word depose on the base, these bottles given to me with a liqueur
content. One site on the internet has a large
variety of French moulded glass bottles with this word and they are sold as
Decanters. In view of the large variety
in shapes Decanters seems more likely than sweet holders, and when I examine my
other Depose bottles, the necks are so narrow that sweets, let along sugar
almonds!, would be unlikely to be used to fill the bottles.,
The
French legal system explains that these inscriptions signal that a “dessin ou
modele”, a design patent, has been filed
to register the shape for a limited duration. This
provides a legal monopoly on the appearance of an object and other people are
not allowed to make an object with an identical appearance.
I would not question
Andy’s view but I think my arguments that it is a French decanter, are
stronger!!!!
The third leg was a long time finding.
I had checked many, many costume jewellery stands at
Antique Fairs in the hope of finding a brooch in the shape of a leg. Perhaps it
was too ambitious because I could not see a lady wanted to wear a badge or a
brooch shaped as a leg. I have seen brooches with a full replica of a lady,
usually a dancer, but despite asking
stall holders, a leg-only brooch did not appear to exist.
I saw the brooch on a web site “Sugar and Vice” just a
simple format in plastic with a brooch clip.
Smart badge and reminded me of the plastic shoe horn I purchased some
years ago….. they just fit in my collection, even though far from being antiques!!
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