MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Thanks Wendy. Nobody has it yet although in a funny way what went into them was 'measured'.

[Stanley]

You need a clue? Think textile related......

[Stanley]

Wendy, you'd better put them out of their misery! If you don't I will. One final clue though, think weaver's wages!

[Wendyf]

I think that's more than a clue Stanley! They are the tins the weaver's wages were put into. We have a tray of them in the archive room.

[Stanley]

Good lass! It was a terrible system whereby the wages were made up in the office and put into those tins in a tray with numbered divisions so each wage could be identified. The tacklers took the wages into the shed and distributed them so they knew exactly how much each weaver was getting. The problem arose from the fact that the tackler's wage included a percentage based on the output of the weavers in his set of looms and so were in a position where they had power over the weavers because if they weren't productive enough the tacklers could get them dismissed. Very handy if they had a relation who needed a job.
Next for shaving?

[Stanley]

Try this one. Exact description please and click to enlarge.....

Mystery objects 694.JPG

[Tizer]

Miners' candles for fixing on their helmets?

[chinatyke]

Candles produced by the old fashioned dipping process. The wicks were dipped into a bath of molten wax or animal fat (dripping) and then removed and allowed to cool. This was repeated until the candle body built up to the required thickness. I would say these are candles produced from animal fat judging by the colour. The wick was doubled over a frame to produce two candles to each wick, and there could be many wicks on one dipping frame.

[Stanley]

Bit too long for miner's candles Tiz, they may have used the stubs but these are beeswax and were more expensive perhaps? China has it dead right, they are what was known at 'Twopenny Dips', sold in all grocers. I forget where I got these from but they are old ones and not modern repros.
Next for shaving?
LKF. The earliest reference I have ever found for cotton was medieval and was for candle wicks.....

[Stanley]

Try this one.....

[Tizer]

It's upside down and it's one of those things that golfers rest their ball on.

[Cathy]

A weight.

[chinatyke]

plumb bob?

[Stanley]

China has it right. A very old plumb bob.
Next one?

[Stanley]

What is it?

[Tizer]

Pillow lava. Eigg?

[Cathy]

I too think it is definitely lava, but somewhere in the back of my mind I keep thinking about giants and giant steps... ?

[Stanley]

Not the Giant's Causeway in Ireland Cathy but the basalt formation of the Sgurr on Eigg just as Tiz says..... It's a huge lava flow that filled a valley but the surrounding ground is eroded away now.

[Stanley]

Try this oldie.....

[Gloria]

A plumb bob??

[Stanley]

No Gloria. It's made of wood and is a tool used in a very ancient technology.

[Gloria]

Is it associated with the spinning of metal?!

[plaques]

A clue for Gloria. Believe it or not you can still get a Lignum Vitae one for £65.

[PanBiker]

Is it a weight for a spinning wheel?

[chinatyke]

Is it a core for moulding or shaping something around it? Like lead beating or something like that. Another thought: is it for flaring the ends of lead pipes, a plumbing tool?