“Rocking” Cork Puller

From a 1946 issue of House and Garden

NO MORE BROKEN CORKS

No “lost in the bottle” corks, either, with the Gourmet Cork Puller.  It is the slickest way to pull a cork your ever saw.  (It is also a bottle opener).  Very attractive gift box, too.  Silver plated model $ 2.95; Sterling Silver (with tropical wood handle) plus leather case $5.00; Completely gold plated handle $ 10.00 with leather case.  All Postpaid.  Gift Cards enclosed.  Please, no COD’s.

I have seen a few Gourmet Cork Pullers over the years, but I have yet to see one in Sterling. And, I definitely have not see one that is gold plated.

If you have a Sterling or Gold Plated Gourmet Cork Puller, drop me a line.

Medicine Spoons and Dosage Cups

I know…

I know…

But, they are all different…

Different advertising, plain with no advertising, different sizes, different makers, different styles, different materials….

I may need a few more….

H. Weil & Sons

I definitely do NOT need another Converse patent cork puller in the collection.

I don’t.

I have way too many.

And yet, I stuck a deal yesterday for yet another example as it carried an advertisment that I hadn’t seen previously.

THREE RIVERS WHISKEY

BOTTLED IN BOND

H. WEIL & SONS, DISTILLERS

PADUCAH KENTUCKY

H. Weil & Son’s operated from 1892 until 1906 and had brands: “Burlington”, “Cold Stream”, “Old Winwood”, “Pearl Valley”, and as shown on the Converse here “Three Rivers.”

Another one to add to the list of advertisements that have been found on the Converse patent:

ALAMEDA COMPANY, WINE AND BRANDIES, 104 TREMONT STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

CH RITTER, DETROIT, MICH, SOLE PROP’RS, WESTMINSTER RYE WHISKEY(marked across the handle, rather than on the sheath)

COMPLIMENTS OF GOPHER GULCH WINE CELLARS WALNUT CREEK CAL. (marked across handle, a more recent production, I am guessing 1960’s)

COMPLIMENTS OF FRIEDMAN, KEILER & CO., DISTILLERS OF BROOK HILL 

COMPLIMENTS OF MISSOURI WINE & LIQUOR CO.

CW GRIFFING, WHOLE SALE LIQUOR DEALER, FARRELL, P.A.

ELMORE BOURBON – ARTHUR LEHMANN & CO. – PEORIA, ILL

FRANK RIPLEY WHISKEY BEST FOR FAMILY USE, L. HEINEMAN JAMESTOWN N.Y.

GREEN VALLEY WHISKEY, CASEY BROTHERS, SCRANTON, PA 

HOLIHAN BROS, WHOLESALERS TO THE PEOPLE, LAWRENCE, MASS

JERSEY WHISKEY – ARTHUR LEHMANN & CO. – PEORIA,ILL 

LEHMANN’S RYE – ARTHUR LEHMANN & CO. – PEORIA, ILL.

MC CORMICK’S STRAIGHT WHISKEY 

MURRAY HILL CLUB WHISKEY, JOS. A. MAGNUS & CO, CINCINNATI, O.

SAMPLE, THE HAWLEY MFG. Co., STEPNEY, CONN

THREE RIVERS – BONDED-IN-BOTTLE – H. WEIL & SONS, PADUCAH, KENTUCKY

What others are out there?

National Wine Day

May 25th is National Wine Day, and corkscrew collectors (and non collectors) across the country will be extracting corks and pouring a glass or three.

Which one(s) will you be using? And, on what wine(s)?

“Two-Legged” CORK PULLER

From a 1905 issue of Normal Instructor:

Get the “Two-Legged” CORK PULLER.

Anyone can use it.  One size pulls large or small corks with perfect ease without injuring the cork.  Far superior to best cork screw ever made.  Legs are easily removed and slide in handle for pocket use.

Prevents tearing corks to pieces, breaking knifes pushing corks back into bottles or jerking and spilling contents.  Worth the price a thousand times.  Postpaid, only 25c.  Agents wanted.

Kennedy Mfg. Co., Hackensack, N. J.

ONLY ONE SIZE

FITS ANY BOTTLE

Now the Two-Legged Cork Puller would be the T. Kennedy patent (777,380) of 1904…

and I would love to add one to the collection.

If you have a cork puller that resembles the Kennedy, feel free to drop me a line!

I have a thing for spoons (with corkscrews)…

Yesterday, a deal was struck for a folding Sterling spoon with corkscrew…

No, I will say that I do have a few spoons laying around, and I was quite pleased when I got the tablespoon version of the Sterling Williamson version a couple of years ago…

And now, there is a tablespoon-size of this type of Sterling spoon corkscrew on its way to the island:

It will be a nice addition to the growing number of medicine / poison corkscrews in the collection!

Mina L. M. Peck’s invention…

From a 1911 issue of Pharmaeceutical Era

Mina L. M. Peck, Hamilton, N. Y., has been granted United States Letters Patent No. 986,855 for a cork puller which is in effect an automatic cork screw comprising a barrel closed at one end and open at the opposite end, a disk movable longitudinally in the barrel and a central axial shaft which, when rotated by means of an operating handle, causes the screw to travel forward and engage the cork, the latter being withdrawn from the bottle as the screw is revolved.

For those of you scratching your head… Peck in her patent description explains:

The operation of my improved automatic cork screw is as follows: to extract a cork from a bottle or the like, the lower open end of the barrel is placed around the neck of the bottle, and the disk 25 is thus disposed on the upper end of the cork, and its points 26a engage the cork and keep the same from slipping. The operator grasps the handle 4 and then presses the barrel downwardly over and around the neck of the bottle and thereby contracts the spring 29. The relative movement of disk 22 upwardly in the barrel causes the balls 28 by engagement with the worm grooves of the worm shaft to rotate said worm shaft in one direction, and the rotation of the worm shaft drives the cork screw into the cork, and the ratchet head of the worm shaft and the coacting pawl permitting rotation of the worm shaft in such direction. Having thus firmly engaged the cork screw in the cork, the operator then pulls upwardly or outwardly on the handle 4, and thereby extracts the cork.

I have never seen a Peck patent (awarded March 14, 1911), but would love to add one to the collection.

I really want to see how this works in action!

No. 105 Key-Knife

From a June 7, 1928 issue of Hardware Age

The No. 105 Key-Knife

A handy and serviceable knife has recently been placed before the trade by the Meriden Knife Co., Meriden, Conn.  This product, known as No. 105 key-knife, has a blade, a bottle opener, a corkscrew, and a combination key blank.  The bottle opener is incorporated into the blade, while the key blank can be cut to individual requirements.

The knife is made of white metal with either rolled gold plate, gold, or sterling silver finish.  T has a loop at one end permitting it to be carried on a watch

chain.  The knife is said to be serviceable in all its parts and has an attractive appearance.

Back from Brimfield…

The lovely bride and I somehow managed to make the last ferry back to the island after a three day jaunt to Brimfield.

After 2 years of COVID, Brimfield is mostly back. There are some fields that were a little smaller than usual, but New England Motel, Herman’s, and May’s were pretty packed. And, both the buyers and the sun was out.

Lot of treasures to be found, but not a lot in the way of corkscrews.

I did manage to pick up a couple, and I did buy 5 vintage beer taps, that I actually sold while walking down the road to the next field.

I was walking at a fair clip, when I passed the dealer who asked, “are those for sale.” And, when I stopped and turned, I recognized him, and we struck a deal. I had sold brewery items to him in the past, and my plan was to seek him out the following day and offer them up.

This visit, the lovely and I rented an airbnb in Holland, MA, which is about 7 miles from the show, and because of our location, we managed to avoid any traffic coming into Brimfield–this made for less early early early mornings, and replaced them with early early mornings.

We did buy a few things for the house, and we will be back in July and September.

A few days antiquing in near perfect spring weather.

#brimfieldbound

This morning, we begin our journey south, as Brimfield starts tomorrow at daybreak.

Rockland to Portland–for supplies.

Portland to Pepperell Cove–for “lunch.”

Pepperell Cove to Portsmouth, NH–for more supplies.

Portsmouth, NH to Holland, MA–where we have rented an airbnb for a few days.

And, tomorrow morning. Brimmy!

Last September, the Brimfield show was quite a bit smaller than years past. Of course, COVID-19 was much of the reason for that. So, this will be our first May show in two years, and word on the street is that Brimfield will be abuzz with dealers and buyers.

If any corkscrews are found on our journey down, I will report back here. And, of course, I will provide news from Brimfield each day.

Stay tuned!