Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Nature, craft and technology

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10 comments:

  1. (2) 17th century Germanic door lock.

    (3) Ivory and bone artifacts, mainly P.O.W. work, early 19th century.

    (14) Ring with lockable poison(?) container

    (4) Lawn struck by lightning (?)

    (5) Horse tail docking device - brass, steel and mahogany. 19th century.

    (7) Fine specimen of iron pyrites.

    (9) Damn!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes Mike, all correct; 3 are all needle-cases; I was hoping you would fall into the trap of calling 14 a key-ring! 9 Your reply is exactly what the ram would have thought when he found this ovine chastity-belt attached to the ewe of his choice.

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    2. I seem to have conflated item 8 with your response to Item 9.
      As might be guessed from my above response, item 8 is an Irish example from c.1870. it was attached to a ewe to dissuade the ram from having his wicked way with her. I have yet to ascertain under what circumstances a farmer might wish to prevent ovine procreation. Possibly with young or sickly ewews?

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  2. P.s. La\rge speciment of extinct Moa's right foot. If it's not extinct I bet it limps heavily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Precisely so Mike. The Moa had lived happily in both of New Zealand's islands for about 7 million years, when the Polynesian Maori arrived a thousand years ago. Within 400 years all the Moa had died from excess tastiness. There were at least 9 species of Moa. Moa dinornis was the largest at about 10 feet tall and weighed in at over 6 cwt. (300 kilos).

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  3. P.P.S. number one is Possibly a witch ball (???)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Despite the similarity, the member of house-hold staff who used this was as likely to suffer a witch to enter the premises as a witch-ball was to admit her spells and curses.

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  4. 1 is a Butler's ball for surveying guests
    9 is the Hoover Dam - I've visited it but it was full then
    13 power hammer for use in the field
    14 must be a key ring!

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1. yes, well-done!
    9. Yes ~ they must have had a colossal Hoover to suck all the water out, damn !
    13. Yes, I had not seen this kind of belt-tension 'clutch' before.
    14. HO, HO, HO, Ho, Ho, Ho, ho, ho, ho ...... Sorry, Just practicing for Christmas ~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 10. Launch of the space-shuttle Atlantis viewed from the international space-station.
      11. A lenticular cloud formation ~ source of many 'flying-saucer' reports.
      12. French (Dieppe) ivory carving of an Elizabethan bust on a plinth which opens to show a naked maiden in an iron-maiden who ought to be saying ~ "How many times have I told you? Don't slam the bleedin' doors."

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