And, given I have always been a leg man, how could I resist.

Details of the trade have been worked out! And, the leg is on its way!

This is definitely a corkscrew I have long been after, and helps to really round out the Detroit/Davis/Puddefoot corkscrew collection

And, as the message continued, I heard that our friend Tommy had been invited to become a member of the International Correspondence of Corkscrew Addicts.

I handed the phone to the lovely bride, so she could hear Tommy just beaming through his message. And, immediately, I called him back.

Well deserved TC! It will be great to have you in the club, and won’t it be awesome to be back together in Chicago for the AGM!!!

We will raise a glass (or two) to you tonight!

well…

I am still digging through boxes to uncover something that will be appropriate. His list reads as follows–please keep in mind this is in JFO-speak

Beer and/or Soda from all of USA:

P-7′s
P-9′s
P-19′s
P-54′s
P-85′s
B-2′s

Soda from all of USA, especially:

A-1′s
A-4′s
A-5′s
A-9′s
A-13′s
A-15′s
A-16′s
A-17′s

Oddly enough, as I was going through a box containing openers that could possibly be appropriate tradebait, I ran across an Edward Zinn patent tool kit with corkscrew, a half sized Thomason corkscrew with lovely badge, an extra Steak Joint patent Korker, and a few other corkscrews that I had forgotten about.

Negotiations are ongoing, and the hunt continues, but the lovely little alligator definitely will be welcomed on the island.

We have had a fabulous trip to NY, and are still here.

Of course the big news is that pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training over the next couple of days, which means baseball season is upon us. And…well…hope springs eternal.

Go Giants!!!!

And, with catchers and pitchers reporting, the antiquing season also begins. Soon we will be heading to Montsweag, Las Vegas for the JFO, Brimfield in May and July, and a few antiquing adventures in between…

The lovely and I head back to Maine tomorrow…if anything turns up between now and then, I will post it here!

So far the plans involve the Diego Rivera Exhibition at MoMA, an afternoon at the Westminster Dog Show, and going to see Warhorse–oh, and a bunch of walking around and wining and dining!

Updates and news as it happens. Stay Tuned!

And… the plot just thickened.

After some research and a couple of emails, an 1878 catalog of the Frary Cutlery Co has been scanned and arrived in my email box just hours ago. I have already poured over the pages, and no corkscrews are mentioned. That said, it would make sense that Frary’s corkscrews were not being produced until the 1880′s to 1890′s, as the hercules mechanism he used wasn’t patented until 1893 and the Reissman patent wasn’t introduced until the mid 1890′s

So, maybe the plot didn’t thicken…

But, it does at least add to the story.

That said, I will keep hunting for information on Frary…

More from the newly discovered catalog soon!!!!

And, yesterday the auction ended.

All week, the corkscrew languished with a pretty low price, and then for most of yesterday it sat there at 68 dollars.

I had placed a rather significant snipe bid, and noticing that there was only 4 minutes to go–the last time I checked it–I figured that it was definitely going to be mine.

Of course, I also figured fotodeal would be going after it, but I placed a bid higher than one would think.

So, this morning, I grabbed a cup of coffee and checked my email. No ebay notifications that I was the winning bidder.

Seriously?

And, the winning bidder was NOT fotodeal!

Seriously?

Apparently after a flurry of sniping and bidding that surely has the seller shocked and pleased, the Davis Improved corkscrew–with atypical blade attachment went from 68 dollars to 565!

Fotodeal did go after it, but was the underbidder, and I was the bid under his… And, then there were a bunch of others that had noticed the unusual Davis.

That said, it did go to someone that we all know well, and I am sure good photograph of it will ultimately go into the article I am working on. Congrats BT…it is a great corkscrew!

And, so we did.

She parked the car, and it would seem the corkscrew gods would be smiling upon us, there was even a sign from above…

Yes, we had actually parked in front of a Wine Bar! Imagine that… (more on the wine bar in a moment).

We crossed the street, and ventured into a delightful antique store, and headed left. Which is unusual, as generally I head right–your shopping habits may differ, but I digress…

As we entered a small room, I looked about, and didn’t see any corkscrews, but then…

Under a table…

In a box, filled with a couple of kitchen utensils…

was…

at first what I thought was Browne patent can opener with corkscrew. But, after flipping it over, I knew that it was something a bit more desirable.

I looked at the lovely bride, with an apparent giddiness, and as we were out of earshot of the shop owner, I proceeded to tell her, that this is definitely a good thing. And, how I have only ever seen two of these. One on eBay that sold for a ton of money, and one at the Boston CCCC AGM that also went for a significant amount–the actual amount eludes me.

With its price tag of a whopping 8 dollars, I carried it with me around the shop as we looked through many other nooks and crannies. Interestingly, in front of the dealer is a case that actually had 4 other corkscrews. Those would definitely be noticed by someone walking in the door (and heading to the right apparently).

I was definitely quite pleased that this was tucked away in the can opener department, as opposed to the more visible corkscrew department.

While looking like a humble can opener, marked PAT APL’D FOR, this one actually is decidedly hard to find (unless you are across from a wine bar in Vermont) and this might actually make the best 6 of the year.

After paying for our treasures (we bought other stuff too), we headed North and did a little more hunting. No more corkscrews; any that we wanted to buy anyway. And, after a nice lunch we headed back down. As it was several hours later, we found ourselves parked in front of Cork once more; this time to sample a bit of wine.

Cork is a lovely little wine bar and wine shop, and we spent a fair amount of time with the owner and manager. As it happened, they are looking for antique and vintage corkscrews to showcase in their shop. Business cards were exchanged.

A nice French Malbec and Sonoma Cab by the glass(es) were consumed, and then we purchased a few bottles including a bottle of Orwin Swift “Prisoner” which we shared at Salt–an excellent (small 5 table) restaurant in Montpelier if you are ever up this way.

This morning we head towards home, and who knows…perhaps a wine bar with an antique store across the street will be found along the way.

Only a couple of errands to run, and then we head off to Vermont for a couple of days.

And, I have no doubt there will be some antiquing along the way. If any finds are found, I will report back here.

Of course… if something newsworthy happens before we leave…

It has also been added to the Murphy Corkscrews page…

Speaking of corkscrews, another Bennit Patent was recently spotted on Main Street in Vinalhaven.