Wednesday 6 July 2011

The names ring a bell


Here we go again. Dolores commented in a previous and highly interesting post of mine about candlesticks, that the one illustrated looked like it could double up as a bell, and I said that some of them actually did. Then, bugger me (actually, don't), I came across one on eBay that actually was a bell at the bottom, with the candlestick as the handle. It was for sale by an antique emporium in the USA and was engraved with various Dutch or German names and the date, '1641'.

I don't really think that it was made in that year, but it is a very interesting and unusual object, so I made them an offer of not much money which they accepted, and I paid with a card the same night. There is a slight chance - it is hand-engraved - that it is a bit older than the early 20th century that they put it at, but I will find out - if and when it arrives.

After I had bought it, I did a bit of online research by typing in the names and date engraved on it's side, and found that the whole item seems to be some sort of ritualistic Christian device, purporting to date from the time when witch-burning and exorcisms were at their height in Northern Europe. The four names seem to relate to the four points of the compass, and are still used as an incantation by modern, so-called 'Wicca' pagan witches today, judging by some strange websites I came upon during the search. So even if this thing is only a few years old, it should still sell well at another time - so long as it is aimed at the right sort of romantic religious nutters.

You may recall the nightmare situation I had when I bought a candlestick from nearby Holland recently, which was destroyed by UK Border Control. It was sent by specialist courier, whose main specialisation seemed to be in losing things entrusted to their care.

This one is being sent from the USA using UPS, and has a tracking number to go with it. When I looked up the tracking data, I found that UPS had declared it to be on it's way three days BEFORE I had actually bought it.

Wish me luck.

12 comments:

  1. UPS are efficient aren't they.

    I once had a parcel arrive before I'd even considered buying it. Now that's efficient!

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  2. Maybe UPS is employing psychics these days? Oh well, I should be able to break the curse when the bell-stick arrives - if UPS haven't broken it for me in transit.

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  3. Or US customs haven't blown it up as a suspicious package.

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  4. Hello Tom:
    Most intriguing. Doubly so if one is into burning witches or such like.

    Bad news about UPS. Our own experience was one of total reliability although the 'tracking' number did not add up to much.

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  5. Looks like it might have belonged to some old witch called Anne.... ahem.

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  6. Steady, Cro - that says 'ANNO'.

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  7. UPS, thinking of my history with this company, I'd say you would have a 60% chance of getting it intact. That is better than most but I'd keep my fingers crossed.

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  8. Is there any room left in your house for you Tom - having said that I love it.

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  9. I shed most of these things as fast as I get them - sometimes at a profit, sometimes not. It's not as if they are huge...

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  10. By the way: Are UK border control people allowed to bugger-up antiques? Don't you have a case against them?

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  11. I don't think that anyone has ever won a case against Border Control since 9/11 - they have more power than Rupert Murdoch.

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  12. P.S. - Everyone knows that they have used the terrorism scare in order to gain even more power for themselves over the last few years, and wresting that power away from them now is going to take some doing.

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