E. P. Rose & Son
Under construction
From the Springette Bobbin sale, November 21, 2010:
A group of 6 bobbins illustrating the range which was available by Mail Order from Jonathan Harris & Sons of Cockermouth in Cumbria between 1893 and 1934 and E.P. Rose of Bedford in the early years of the 20th Century. See pages 61-66 of ‘Success to the Lace Pillow.
The Honiton bobbin is made of beech wood and has the original label which marks its price as 1/6 per dozen (1 shilling and 6 old pennies for 12). (Shown on page 62.)
The wooden bobbins without spangle holes are more reminiscent of bobbins used on the Continent, and indeed the smaller one made from boxwood is stamped ‘Made in France’ in ink (Shown on page 63). The large one which may also have been made in France is marked 1/- per dozen (one shilling or 12 old pennies for 12) (Shown on page 62.).
A slimmer version of this style, but with the addition of a spangle hole, was made in an excellent piece of pure white bone and is shown on page 63.
The slightly more ornate style of bobbin was also made in bone, but when we were offered a bagful of 20 or so of these bobbins, we were surprised at how heavy they were – considerably heavier than the bone bobbins we were used to handling. Closer examination of some of the bobbins revealed a dark coloured ‘smudge’ along one side and it was this that enabled us to identify them as having made from antler rather than bone. (Shown on page 63.) Talking to experts we were able to discover that only the Simbar and Chittal of India have antler which is thick enough to produce bobbins like this.
The final bobbin of this group is the most ornate and has the most interesting story to tell. It has a large number of incised lines, some slightly deeper grooves and several rows of spots drilled around the bobbin, but although we have seen a lot of these bobbins, they have always been completely white without the coloured spots and bands we associate with typical antique English lace bobbins. The most intriguing part is the area in the lower part of the shank where several grooves spiral up the bobbin in opposite directions. This is a style of decoration seen on many antique English lace bobbins and these grooves would have intended to be filled with tinsel, tiny beads or wire, but when we were asked if it were possible to replace the decoration on some of these bobbins, we were shocked to discover that some of the grooves actually branched from one into two channels, making it quite impossible to decorate in the normal way. Although this particular bobbin has single grooves & could be decorated if the owner desired, the example with the branching channels proved to us that these bobbins were in all probability made by someone slavishly copying a genuine old example without any understanding of how the grooves and bands were designed to function. They were then sold as they were – completely undecorated. We think there is every possibility that these bobbins too, were made in large numbers in India, some would have been used in the many missionary schools in that country, but clearly a lot were exported to Britain and sold to lacemakers by mail order catalogue.
As a footnote, some of these catalogues also advertise genuine antique or ‘Ancient’ wood and bone bobbins at prices ranging from 6d (6 old pennies) to 3/6 (3 shillings and 6 old pennies) each!
first posted 4/5/2009 |
