This blog has nothing to do with Windstone, but I think mysteries are always welcome.
I finally found the old polaroid photos I took of this “Mysterious Object” that we have been trying to identify for years.
…So what is this thing?!? Anybody have a clue?
The closest thing I can think of is a brass wind instrument mute, but it seems too large for most brass instruments, and it isn’t padded or very smooth where it would touch the bell of an instrument. It is flat on the bottom.
The only other thing it resembles, a little, is a spittoon! -but the bottom dish-shaped thing has a lip around the inside that would make it nearly impossible to clean out.
Ok, here are further clues:
The trademark says “This mark is a guarantee of quality and durability” -so it had a function of some kind for which it needed to be durable.
I made a high contrast detail pic of the trade mark image. The lion seems to be partially surrounded buy a crescent with pock marks in it… the moon?Under the heraldic lion is written “THE KING”. The lion has his paw on an image of the object, so we are pretty sure that this is the complete thing, not a part of something else.
This thing is hollow brass. It was light in weight, and it seemed to me that it was made in a way similar to a brass instrument; you can see in the photos that is is dinged up just like an old tuba. It unscrews into two pieces. The base is double walled, so that when you unscrew it, there is a chamber accessible through screw hole.
AND, here is the patent number and date! Jan 4, 1801 #666142
I have tried looking this number up with the US patent office, but the lists I have been able to find only go back to 1836, so I haven’t had any luck.
This thing belonged to a friend of ours and sadly, they no longer have it, but I have been searching for another one!
Hmmmm…. Could it be an oil lamp, sans wick?
I can’t see the pics for some reason, but a search on Google Patent (yes, there is a Google Patent…I’m a patent agent and I use it all the time) lead me to this patent
http://www.google.com/patents?id=W9ZuAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&source=gbs_overview_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
If you can’t get to it, let me know. The patent is to a machine for making cardboard or leather boxes. If you look at Figures 9 or 10, there’s a part that fits the description you wrote. It appears that the part (numbered 108) is a receptacle for a hole punch.
If you can’t see the pics, Melody’s mystery object looks like the front half of a vuvuzela with a globe on top of the smaller end. The dish looks like a regular dish except for a raised platform in the center, with a hole in the middle. The vuvuzela-shaped thing sits on top of this platform, big-end down, and has a raised bump on the bottom to correspond with the hole in the platform.
Looks like a job for… Antiques Roadshow!