Anyone know about old or possibly antique furniture and other old things ?

[BC]

The pocket knives are interestin, I recognise the second one with the 'turnbuckle' ring in the front to lock the blade, it's an Opinel. I have a fair collection of pocket knives, a couple of those small celluloid covered handle ones, generically called pen knives. I like the types that have horn and bone handles.

 

The marbles in the main are old Victorian ones, especially the red/yellow swirl one, the buff coloured ones look like very early clay marbles.

 

In the box with the razorblades, those round shiny ring things under the razorblades are expanding shirt sleeve keeper uppers, my father used to wear a pair when he went out in his best shirt, you pull your shirt sleeves up so that the cuffs don't come down over your hands if the sleeves are a bit too long by wearing the bands around your bicepts.  I also see in the middle bottom of the tin an old shirt collar stud, early ones were ivory and gold. Wasn't the smiley face on the pencil Bill the early 'Fanta' orange fizzy drink logo? I bet you've been having a lot of fun 'discovering'.

 

I certainly have had Tim but I can't keep everything.

[BC]

How big (or rather small) is the spirit level, Bill?  I have one only 4" long

 

I suspect it is longer than 4 inches long Sue probably nearer 6 inches but I will check and get back to you Sue.

[powerrabbit]

If we're going to start 'the smallest spirit level' competition then I suspect this one will probably take some beating. This little all brass one is exactly 3"1/8 (79mm or 7.9cm) in length. I use this one all the time, very handy size for setting up my clocks levelling them up. The computer mouse gives a good size scale comparison.

 

 

 

[david_scrivener]

Regarding the Dominoes set, made by Glevum Games, a few details about the company here:

 

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Roberts_Brothers_(Gloucester)

 

Should be OK now

Edited December 1, 2012 by david_scrivener

[BC]

If we're going to start 'the smallest spirit level' competition then I suspect this one will probably take some beating. This little all brass one is exactly 3"1/8 (79mm or 7.9cm) in length. I use this one all the time, very handy size for setting up my clocks levelling them up. The computer mouse gives a good size scale comparison.

 

P10001321.JPG

 

Ok how about...who has the longest spirit level as well Tim...just to raise the bar a little  

[BC]

Regarding the Dominoes set, made by Glevum Games, a few details about the company here:

 

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Roberts_Brothers_(Gloucester)

 

Having trouble with the link, am trying to fix it.

 

I'm chapping as I wait David  

[Leakeyvale]

If we're going to start 'the smallest spirit level' competition then I suspect this one will probably take some beating. This little all brass one is exactly 3"1/8 (79mm or 7.9cm) in length. I use this one all the time, very handy size for setting up my clocks levelling them up. The computer mouse gives a good size scale comparison.

 

P10001321.JPG

That is exactly what I use mine for!  Setting up that clock

[BC]

How big (or rather small) is the spirit level, Bill?  I have one only 4" long

 

Its 146 mm long or 5 & 3/4 inches in old money Sue.

 

17 mm wide

 

20 mm high

 

Maybe this was a clock one as well

[BC]

Today I was sorting through some of my uncles things and found some more interesting things.

 

Well it is farming related ...what is it and what was it used for

 

 

Need any clues...

 

 

[BC]

Found another couple of pen knives as well in his collection of knives

 

[BC]

Now a couple of clocks for Tim to give me some information on. I wound then up and both are working. I suspect these were handed down to uncle from my grandparents.

 

This one is a non chimer and say Made in England

 

 

 

 

 

[BC]

Next a chimer

 

4 at 15 minutes past, 8 at 30 minutes past, 12 at 15 minutes to and 16 at the hour followed by 12 at noon and midnight. Mum was saying her Granny Arthur said it might as well ring all the time  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BC]

Now the pair together on top of granddad's desk which mum intends to hold on to ...its needing a little restoration but we will get around to that in due course.

 

 

The keys I found for the clocks. Both the brass ones wind up either clock but not the one in the middle which has a smaller square in it.

 

Edited December 2, 2012 by BC

[david_scrivener]

BC, is your egg a china or chalk egg?

 

If so, they're used to keep broody hens interested until they're fully settled, & have usually been moved from their hen house to a separate cage/pen with a nest, so they can incubate without being disturbed by other hens. Once properly settled for a couple of days, the dummy eggs are gently removed and replaced with the eggs to be incubated, usually done in the evening when the hen is half asleep.

 

This is particularly relevent for people who concentrate on breeds which don't go broody (e.g. Anconas & Leghorns), and so keep a separate flock of crossbred broodies, often part Silkie bred. Of course, such breeders will probably also have an incubator, but some inbred exhibition strains don't hatch very well, and broodies usually give better results than small, hobbyist size, incubators. Broodies are also useful if a breeder wants to be sure of keeping track of the parentage of particular chicks, say if they have several breeding pens of different strains of a single breed.

Edited December 2, 2012 by david_scrivener

[BC]

My mum in her 80th year said it was a china egg and something to do with a broody hen...but I did not ask any more questions since well I prefer chicken on my plate   

[powerrabbit]

China eggs  were used to put under a broody hen in order to keep it broody until enough fertile eggs were laid by the other chicken to make up a clutch bof a decent size. If a broody hen has no eggs to sit then she will not stay broody. A broody hen will incubate any eggs, goose, duck, turkey, pheasant etc, a practice that goes back millenia.

 

Now the clocks. Bill, the first is a British made clock by Perivale of The Perivale Clock Manufacturing Co Ltd of Perivale Road Wandsworth Middlesex. There will probably markings around or within the stamped 'losenge' on the backplate that will date it precisely but it will have been made during the 1930's. Chiming once on the half hour and the number of hours on the hour.

 

Second one is probably another British made clock made by Smiths. This one has Westminster chimes which will chime 1/4 the 'tune' at 1/4 past, 1/2 on the half hour, 3/4 at a quarter to and the full chime on the hour followed then by 3 of the hammers striking the number of hours.

 

To get both chiming correctly, wind them up, move the minute hand to the half hour and wait for it to strike, if it strikes once then that's right. Next move the minute hand to the 12, let the clock strike, counting the number and observe what number the hour hand is pointing to. if both are the same then it's timed ok, if not, move the hour hand to the number that the clock struck, if the hour hand is tight, just ease it forward gently and then move it and then just push it back on again to tighten. If the clock strikes the hour when the minute hand is at 6, undo the hand nut in the middle, take off the washer, ease off the hand and put it back on pointing to 12, You can do this for both clocks if needed.  Having said that, with the Westminster it should syncronise itself, at 3 there is a slot with a little lever, this lever should first be moved up to 'silent' first and  after winding it and setting the correct time and pendulum swinging, set the lever to 'chime' and it will, probably a part chime followed by chiming the nearest hour, after that it tets itself. Again, made in the 1930's.

 

Both are very nice clocks and should have a very nice mellow sounding chime. Oak cases that you can initially clean up to remove dust and old paint spots with a damp warm cloth with a little washing up liquid, allow to dry and polish up using a spray furniture polish.

[BC]

Thanks Tim

    

[Leakeyvale]

My grandfather used china eggs to encourage hens to brood so I agree wholeheartedly with David (who is a chicken breeder) and Tim both of whom beat me to the answer

[BC]

Nothing wrong with a third placing Sue  

[BC]

On Sunday in addition to taking down the clocks from my folks house loft I also took down uncles record player and after a clean up with baby wipes there was life in the old machine which kinda pleased me. Mum said he had bought it around 1954 / 1955 when he was recovering from a broken leg when a car pulled out on him near Inverness when he  was driving his motor bike with younger brother George on the pillion when returning from visiting relatives in Dingwall. I later found out the price he paid for it but not the invoice or the shop he bought it but I suspect it may have been Bruce Millers in Aberdeen who traded in Aberdeen before closing down quite recently after trading for circa 100 years.

 

Anyway here is the Dansette.

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2012 by BC

[BC]

In the boxes of records I found my uncle had paid 24 Guineas for the record player...I wonder who many weeks wages that was and did granddad pay him when he was off work with his broken leg following the motor bike accident

 

 

 

 

 

 

[powerrabbit]

24Gns Bill back in 1954, the year I was born, would have been quite a lot of money, average wage then being about £7 a week would mean it would take nearly a months full wages to buy it, put that against today and in relative terms with modern equipment the modern equipment equivalent is a lot cheaper. A nice find, no great value but where would you find another in such good condition complete with all the paperwork it would have come with from new?, it was obviously well cared for and cherished.

[BC]

I had a wee laugh to myself when I was reading some of the leaflets and it said the record player came with two keys to lock it and well there was a box with various small keys and low and behold I found one that fitted the locks on each side of the player  .

 

My dad was very interested in hearing some of the records I put on to be played....including ..."The Bonnie Lass o Bon Accord"...."The Skye Boat Song"....."The Roads and the miles to Dundee" and "The muckin o Geordies Byre".. translated as the cleansing of Georges Cow Shed.

 

 

Anyway two boxes of old 78's

 

 

[BC]

24Gns Bill back in 1954, the year I was born, would have been quite a lot of money, average wage then being about £7 a week would mean it would take nearly a months full wages to buy it, put that against today and in relative terms with modern equipment the modern equipment equivalent is a lot cheaper. A nice find, no great value but where would you find another in such good condition complete with all the paperwork it would have come with from new?, it was obviously well cared for and cherished.

 

Tim I remember myself and my cousin Josephine used to listen to some records supervised by my mum and the one I really liked and remembered was a song called " a four legged friend"....cant remember who sung it but I remember it had a green sticker in the middle.....but Google tells me it was Roy Rogers

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsJJUGxh23Y

 

woo Trigger   

 

I don't know what value the player and records are but I have got to the stage in life I need to downsize...well get rid of stuff since any FTF members who

has visited me will probably agree my house and loft and garage and five sheds are kinda busy..  

[powerrabbit]

If you think your house is a bit 'buisy' Bill, you ought to see mine!

 

I haven't clicked on your first YouTube link but seeing that old grainy monochrome still of Andy Stewart takes me back, how appropriate for the time of year. Back in the 1960's my Mother would wait with trepidation for New Years Eve BBC television broadcasting the Andy Stewart show and also the ITV rival 'Hogmanae' programme hosted by Kenneth McKeller, she would look at the rest of us with 'that look' if we so much as rustled a sweet paper while it was on. Back thenh we only had BBC and ITV, yes, just the two channels!

 

I used to have an old 'His Masters Voice' wind-up gramaphone that an uncle gave me when I was but a little lad, early 1960's it was, it came with a pile of 78's, many of which I forget what they were now but the ones that stick in my mind were Gracie Fields, 'Wish me luck' and others, another title that sticks in my mind is 'Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo' and Mantovani 'Swedish Rhapsody'. Sadly the spring broke and I got fed up of turning the turntable with my finger at the right speed so it and the 78's ended up in a jumblesale. Wish I'd kept the 78's.

Edited December 3, 2012 by powerrabbit