"Put
a feather with a fossil and a bit of coral and everyone will think it's a
specimen. Put the same feather with a ribbon and an artificial flower and
everyone will think it's for a lady's hat. Put the same feather with an
ink-bottle, a book and a stack of writing-paper, and most men will swear
they've seen a quill pen"
- Father Brown in The Perishing of the Pendragons, G. K. Chesterton
These things?
Don't they actually look a lot like little furniture legs with felt nailed on the bottom to prevent scraping?
The other end would be a spike to insert into the bottom of whatever furniture-y thing they were originally attached to...
That seems like the most logical explanation to me. But it had not struck me until I saw them in the photos, apart from the tools in the box.
I've always liked that thought in that Father Brown story, but now it's really been delievered home!
(I still think they make pretty tools, once I find what they're actually useful for...)
I think you're on to something, Sherlock! They sure look a lot different out of that box!
ReplyDeletecould they be some sort of tools for bobbin lace making? It is hard to tell how big they are.
ReplyDeleteYou're the second one who came up with that idea... They're 12 cm long. I can't imagine what they'd be used for in bobbin lace making; they're certainly not bobbins, because they have no "bobbin" space - nowhere to wind the thread. And the shape's just wrong for that; bobbins usually have the widest part at the bottom, not in the middle.
DeleteSpool holders for spools of thread? Would the raw ends have slotted into holes in a machine or in a sewing table?
ReplyDeleteCheers, Robyn
Probably too wide for that - that would have to be some large spools! But it's a good idea - they could be slotted into something and used that way... hmm.
Deletei think you're right! when first saw them, i thought they could hold the metal end of some sort of tool, but the felt pads give them away. maybe someone went wild with reupholstering and kept the legs with sewing stash...
ReplyDeleteThat was largely my train of thought, too - at first, that they could have been the handles of a tool...
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