Wednesday 26 October 2011

For the viewers at home, here is the mystery object


As a special half-term treat for John, I am showing you my latest candle stick.

You may remember the post which he said was - for a candle stick one - almost interesting. It involved the eBay seller who got all stroppy with me for asking for another photo of it, saying that he might just take it down altogether to prevent me from buying it too cheaply, and I replied by saying that he wouldn't sell it at all if nobody knew what it was.

Well, he eventually relented and put up an extra photo, and that didn't tell me anything more. In the end, I was the only person to bid on it, and he was forced to sell it to me for the start-bid, and he sent it to me all the way from Northern Ireland (snigger).

For political reasons, Royal Mail are obliged to charge the same money for airmailing the heavy little thing as they would if it were just down the road, which I find extremely gratifying. Now that it has arrived, I am still bewildered by it, and I am hoping that there is a secret candle stick expert lurking anonymously amongst my followers who will be able to tell me all about it.

There are certain things that are obvious about it, and other things that give me cause for conjecture.

It is obviously a desk candlestick, and it is obviously no older than about 1890 or so. It is made from cast brass which has been milled into a cannon shape on a lathe, and it is made in two pieces which unscrew at the foot. Because of the shape and it's extreme weight for it's size (it's only about 4 inches high and weighs about 2 pounds) I have a feeling that it is a ship's desk candlestick.

Oil lamps on ships were usually gimballed, so that the flame was always upright as the ship rolled, and many candlesticks and decanters had very wide and flat bottoms, so that they were less likely to overturn in a storm. This stick would be very difficult to overturn, simply because of it's weight in relation to height, and if it were set into a round recess of a wooden desk, it would not slide about either.

Anyone seen one like this before, or any ideas, secret expert?

17 comments:

  1. I am expecting a comment from Raz saying "I don't give a fuck what it is."

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  2. It looks pretty 'dour' to me...no attempt at decor. Maybe it's Scottish!

    'Here's your Christmas present Mrs MacSpreading; and make sure you keep it clean' (Scottish accent).

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  3. It could well be Scottish, Cro - especially as it came from Northern Ireland. If it did come from a ship, it still doesn't look European - like you say, too dour.

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  4. I am not and never have been a candlestick expert but your photo leads me to ask whether you are absolutely sure that it is a candlestick? And don't ask me what else it could be because I don't know that either. Is Flog it ever in your area???

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  5. I'm no expert, Tom but I'd say it was a candlestick alright, possibly made of brass.

    Yes, a brass candlestick...x

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  6. When I did 'removals' as a student, it would have been known as 'a blunt object' (possibly Scottish).

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  7. The thing is...i do give a fuck...i give a fuck that your friend's daughter went missing. I give a fuck that your granddaughter obviously has a real soft spot for her granddad. I give a fuck about your candlestick and wonder where it came from. And I am also a little thin skinned so when someone comments on my blog that they don't give a fuck (however trivial my post), I give a fuck.

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  8. Sorry Raz, I thought it would be a funny thing to say, but that's my sense of humour for you. I knew everyone else would be giving you good advice, so I thought I'd have a laugh (lol HAHA !!!!).

    As for the rest of you....

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  9. I'm just amazed he didn't say anything about the painting!

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  10. She obviously wasn't 'thrilled' about the first comment I made, so I had better not make one on the painting. Interior designers, eh? So hard to live with.

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  11. Like the Weaver of Grass I am wondering if it even is a candlestick. It does look like it came from a ship. But maybe it was used to mount a flag or a stripper pole.

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  12. Any chance of another photo of it?

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  13. A 'stripper pole'? Is this the same sort of pole that John regularly swings himself around down at the old 'Badger and Bottle' at Trelawnyd every saturday night?

    No, Elegance, it would cost me 12p to put up another photo... oh, all right then. Just for John's benefit.

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  14. If anyone needs another picture, just let me know - like I am MADE of money.

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