What could this English 1893 8-inch silver tube be for ?

[afrb]

This English object from 1893, in 30 years
nobody has suggested a plausible use for it.

108 grams. Overall length 8-5/16". Diameter of main tube 1-1/16".
Length without cap 6-1/2".

See pictures WHOLE1 through WHOLE4. Hallmarks on HALL1 through
HALL3 -- London 1893

With cap removed, the main tube would hold water, which could be poured out.

See pictures CAP1 through CAP3.
The cap is decorated with a dome, connected to a flat surface by "teeth"
leaving about 20 triangular holes allowing one to look "through" the cap.
However, these do not make it a sprinkler, like an aspergillum; the cap
closes the main tube completely. The dome is surmounted by a human
figure in the costume of a jester perhaps. At first I thought he looked like
"Mr.Punch" on the cover of the magazine. But not really. A hunchback ?

See pictures FOOT1 through FOOT3.
At the other end of the tube, there is a solid partition 1-1/4" from the
bottom, which terminates the section that would contain water if you filled
it. 5/16" above that partition, two balls about 3/16" in diameter attached to
the outside of the tube, as though it were meant to rest on them in some
way. If you set the tube on a table, resting on these "feet" and the upper
part of the whole thing, the tube is close to parallel to the table, with a
narrow space below it. This is so, whether or not the cap is attached to the
tube; if the cap is not there, the upper end of the tube rests on a narrow
projecting rim.

Centered between the "feet", there is a sloping plane surface that starts
just below the feet and continues to the bottom surface of the whole thing,
cutting off about 5/16" of the circle of the bottom surface. One's first
thought is that the whole thing should somehow rest on this sloping
surface, but there is no way of making it do so.

If the feet and this beveled surface are thought of as being at the back of
the tube, there is a door directly opposite, at the front of the tube. The
door is a section of the cylinder of the tube, as though it were cut out of
the tube. It is hinged at one side, and a knob is attached to the center.
The knob is almost like one of the feet, but a trifle larger, and having a
1/16" circular hole in its center, through which one can see (with a loupe
and a flashlight) that it is hollow.

See pictures FOOT2 and FOOT3.
When the door is open, it reveals a compartment of which the back wall is
the beveled surface that cuts off the lowest part of the main cylinder; the
top and bottom surfaces are circles, except as the bottom is cut off by
the bevel, and the rest is cylindrical. However, a U-shaped piece of flat silver is attached across the door for some reason.

***admin note - WARNING - each of these images is 24 x 18 inches, if your computer does not have a lot of RAM, opening them could cause it freeze. (learned this the hard way) ***

CAP1
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9268/cap1by6.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
CAP2
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3958/cap2nl5.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
CAP3
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/4665/cap3fe9.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FOOT1
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/6004/foot1qo5.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FOOT2
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/3672/foot2dx8.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FOOT3
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/1181/foot3fl4.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FOOT4
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/6148/foot4fa9.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
HALL1
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/241/hall1ex3.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
HALL2
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/6836/hall2pw0.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
HALL3
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3474/hall3py8.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WHOLE1
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9007/whole1mc4.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WHOLE2
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9371/whole2us2.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WHOLE3
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7808/whole3sg8.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WHOLE4
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/8607/whole4fr6.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(admin photo edit - images too large - link only - see Posting Requirements )
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[dragonflywink]

Oh my, the pictures are so ginormous!!!
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[admin]

Certainly intriguing, I'm sure its intended use goes being being a match safe, but I believe that is, in part, one of its main functions.
The decoration is primarily neo-rococco festoons, but the the two horizontal bands with knurled surfaces, just above the door, are glaringly at odds with all of those asymmetrical curves. This suggests that they are functional, rather than decorative, and most likely serve as match strikes, so the main tube would be for matches.
I'm completely at a loss as to the purpose of the lower compartment, and hope someone else can fill us in.
In future, please crop and scale down your photos.
Thanks, Tom

Ps. Just reread your post and noted the dimensions for the first time. At 8 inches, the bottom section might be intended for matches, the larger section for, perhaps a stick of sealing wax?


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[Doos]

Hi,

My first impression is a refractometer but I would need to see the other pictures and I don't have the patience to load them.
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[afrb]

Having looked at a picture of a refractometer, I see what you mean. But there is no transparent element in this thing; all made of sheet silver.
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[admin]

Hi, Sure that is was at least partially a match safe or vesta case, I sent off an email to the International Match Safe Association
http://www.matchsafe.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and got a reply today.

The item pictured is a match safe/wax seal combination. The hallmarks identify it to be of English origin made by Samuel Jacob, London in 1893. On most examples the lid with the harlequin is hinged. I couldn't tell for the photos if the hinge was missing or just made as a slip-off lid.

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[afrb]

OK, a match safe, quite plausible. But what is the little compartment at the bottom for, and why the sloping flat surface at the foot of the whole thing. The devil is in the details. The little compartment is too small for sealing wax, except a stub. By 1893 there weren't any more two-part fire producers, were there ? Apart from, maybe, "strike only on box" matches, which wouldn't fit this case.
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[admin]

Hi,
The bottom compartment is for the matches, which at the time were often short and, by and large, the dangerous strike anywhere variety. The long tube is for the sealing wax stick.
Not having seen or handled one of these before, I can only conjecture as to how it was used, but the details of the piece supply some hints.
I imagine it was intended for the wick core or candle type sealing wax bars.
so...
Remove match to have ready, pull off cap, pull out wax candle so it extends out of tube a little, lay whole mechanism on paper with candle end over area to be sealed, make sure the two little ball feet are on the bottom, press angled end with finger (with the ball feet as the fulcrum it should raise the candle end an inch or two above the paper), strike match, light candle, melting wax will drip onto paper in a blob, blow out candle, remove the mechanism and apply your personal seal to the wax before it hardens.
Regards, Tom
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