We had one correct answer for our April’s What Is It. Fred Clark of Colorado Springs, Colorado correctly identified the object as a fishing reel. It is a 19th century fly reel, from an unknown English maker. It has a rare decoration of a fishing scene in bas-relief. It was purchased for $20 in 1975. Fishing tackle and tools […]
We had no correct answers for our March’s What Is It. We were hoping some musician out there might have recognized it. The March’s What Is It is a 16” Hand Tuneable Bodhran. The Deep Pro Frame is in Mahogany. It is a handheld, shallow Irish drum with a single goatskin head, played with a stick. 1965-70 Irish Gaelic bodhran, […]
The four hatpins shown to the left are all fashioned from natural materials. From left they are carved bone, a tooth (probably from an elk) mounted in gold, carved ivory, and two small deer teeth in a silver setting. The most valuable of the four is the ivory-elephant hatpin. We had several correct guessers for February’s What Is It. […]
We had one correct answer to our January What Is It. Dottie Unruh of Lakewood, Colorado said, “It is a feeding device for feeding liquids to infants or to the ill.” Dottie has won a year’s subscription to the Mountain States Collector. Congratulations! Pictured to the right is an early Roman glass nursing bottle. It is extremely rare. After the […]
We had several guesses for December’s What Is It? Only one reader correctly identified the objects. Both objects are lightning rods. The one on the upper right is recognizable by the marbling as slag glass, which is made from melted-down scrap. This ornament has the doorknob shape often used for slag balls. The frosted pink of the plain ball […]
Follow Us