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Date: |
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Description: | Cast cu-alloy 'screw' with heart-shaped handle, probably dating to the late medieval or early post-medieval period, i.e. AD1500-1700. The heart-shaped handle is made up of two bent 'halves' which may have been bent slightly out of shape subsequently. The 'screw' part displayed a very basic, rounded thread which suggest an earlier date (Geoff Egan, pers. comm.). The screw would have been too weak to hold something heavy in place and is best seen perhaps as a part of an early 'sewing vice' which could be clamped to a table to facilitate sewing, stitching and mending of fabric. The actual device would have held needles, pins and perhaps yarn and was easily accessible for the needlewoman. A complete, later example can be seen when followed the link below. The description of this 'sewing bird' is the following: "Sewing bird, patented by Charles Waterman, Connecticut, 1853. The bird could be clamped to a table to hold a piece of fabric in its beak and facilitate hemming and stitching. Advertisements touted its "health reserving property" because it allowed the sewer to sit up straight rather than bend over work held in the lap." (http://www.historicnewengland.org/NEHM/2000SummerPage06.htm) Although this bird was patented only in the late 19th century, patina and make of our object suggest that it was made in an earlier period. It may not have been part of a 'sewing bird' but may have held something similar in place.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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