Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: flying free on January 23, 2017, 12:29:04 PM
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I've done quite a lot of research on this piece and a piece I own and wondered if anyone out there had any more information on linen smoothers from 1841 or earlier please?
This piece is in the Stewartry Museum Kirkudbright in Scotland.
http://www.futuremuseum.co.uk/collections/people/lives-in-key-periods/archaeology/early-medieval-(400ad-1099ad)/vikings/domestic/linen-smoother,-gribdae-farm.aspx
Currently listed in that collection as:
Period: Early Medieval
Description: A glass linen smoother of possible Norse type found in a cairn on Gribdae Farm, Kirkcudbright parish.
Place of Discovery: Gribdae Farm
Source: The Stewartry Museum
Accession number: 2006
Digital Number: SWAK012
Research reason - My piece is remarkably similar down to the texture on the handle v the smooth glass of the 'foot' of the smoother and mine also came from the Solway Firth. So I think it's possible there might be a link.
As far as I can tell there is a dispute over the dating of this piece in the Stewartry Museum collection:
- The museum has it as early Medieval
- It was displayed at the Glasgow exhibition in 1911 dated by the information given if I understand it correctly, as Viking, and accepted as that period for the exhibition from what I can see.
However in this archeological information archive dated I think to 1954-1956(?)(Proceedings of the Society pp 226) the dating has been questioned as follows:
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_088/88_226_227.pdf
'...The linen smoother of very dark green glass, with a handle, also shown on
PL XLIV, has already been recorded in these Proceedings(.7.' XV, 192.). It was desribed in that
account, dated 1881, as " found about forty years ago in digging a drain at Gribdae,"
a farm in Kirkcudbright parish (Nat. Grid ref. 25/730504), and is still in the
Stewartry Museum.(His note 8. Reg. no. 2006. This is obviously the same as the linen smoother lent to the Scottish Exhibition
of National History, Art and Industry held in Glasgow in 1911, where it was placed with Viking relics;
cf. Palace of History, II, 806, no. 441.)
The account goes on to state that during subsequent draining operations at Gribdae an old drain was found beneath a cairn of stones, and seems to imply connection between the cairn and the linen smoother. The Stewartry Museum register has a much more specific entry—an "Ancient Linen Smoother found in a cairn which had evidently been raised over a place of sepulture on the farm of Gribdae."
Taken by itself the register entry, though terse, is conclusive, and was obviously accepted as proof of the Viking origin of the linen smoother by the organisers of the Scottish Exhibition held in Glasgow in 1911. However, the account given in the Proceedings mentioned above shows that the register entry rests upon very insecure evidence, and may therefore be rejected.
There is, in fact, little doubt that glass linen smoothers with handles are relatively modern; Dr Harden has
kindly drawn my attention to their manufacture at Woodchester Glass House, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, in the 17th century;
1 no doubt there were other centres of manufacture.
I am indebted to Mr G. E. Paterson, Curator and Honorary Secretary of the
Stewartry Museum Association, for permission to publish this note, and to Mr R.
Roddam, of Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, for the photograph of the two
linen smoothers. I am especially grateful to Dr D. B. Harden, Keeper of the
Department of Antiquities in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, for his kind help
and advice.
J. G. SCOTT.'
So, it's the penultimate paragraph in that account that interests me with regard the dating:
1) It might be reasonable as a start point to think that if it were given in 1881 with the information that it had been found about 40 years earlier buried, then it might at the latest made in 1841.
2) That penultimate paragraph in J. G. Scott's account mentions them as being 'relatively modern':
'There is, in fact, little doubt that glass linen smoothers with handles are relatively modern; Dr Harden has
kindly drawn my attention to their manufacture at Woodchester Glass House,
near Stroud, Gloucestershire, in the 17th century; no doubt there were other centres of manufacture.'
However what is meant by 'relatively modern'? He goes on to say that his attention has been drawn to the fact they were made in the 17th century. Therefore, I assume what he means by 'relatively modern' is by a comparison to the Viking era, rather than 'modern' meaning 'contemporary'.
He has also put another comment in his note 6:
'6. I am indebted to Dr D. B. Harden for drawing my attention to flve similar objects, all of variegated
glass, in the Ashmolean Museum. These are presumably linen smoothers; though nothing is known of
their origin, they appear to be recent and, if so, cannot but cast doubt upon the Viking origin of any
linen smoother found unaccompanied by other objects of Viking age. ...'
I can't read anything into the part '... they appear to be recent ...' . I don't know if he means recent in the same way as he meant 'relatively modern' i.e. possibly in comparison to Viking age, or whether he means 'recent' as in nearer in date to 1954-1956 when that piece was written.
So, I have the Woodchester glass book by J. Stuart Daniels and on plate IV at the back of the book, items 20, 21 and 22 show a part foot a handle and another part foot of a linen smoother from Woodchester Glasshouse. Woodchester Glasshouse appears to date from c.1590 to c.1615.(ref pg 2 Woodchester Glasshouse J. Stuart Daniels).
If the Gribdae Farm smoother and mine are contemporary to those in the book then it is possible that the Gribdae Farm one is not Viking but possibly early 17th century. It is also possible given the similarities of mine previously mentioned to the one from Gribdae Farm, that mine might also date to a similar period.
This is as far as I have got.
I have read extensively around Viking pieces so don't need any information on those.
I have also read extensively around 1800s references and found references to ribbon smoothers going back to around 1820 iirc (lost all my research) and possibly a reference to late 1700s for the ribbon smoother. But I have no further information on whether they were stone or glass and what shape i.e. with or without a handle at the moment as I will have to refind those references.
What I am trying to work out is:
a) was this made in the early 1800s around 1840 ish when it appeared to have been found buried (wouldn't someone have smelled a rat or recognised it was more recent in 1911? or even in 1881 when it was donated to the museum?)
or
b)instead of dating to the Viking era (which it was accepted into the exhibition as being) does it actually date to around 1600.
If anyone has a particular interest in these or is able to shed any light on the type of glass around in 1590/1600 I would be grateful.
Thanks
m
p.s. I have tried it on a piece of damp antique linen and it works well :) Presumably for smaller pieces though as wouldn't like to iron a sheet with it ;D
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hello m....... the following might possibly be of interest to you.
In 1967 an academic by the name of G. H. Kenyon produced a volume entitled 'The Glass Industry of the Weald' - an area within the south of England covering the ancient forest areas of Sussex and Surrey, which during the late medieval period is known to have been occupied by a number of small itinerant glass houses centred mainly on Chiddingfold, and operational from the C14 to C17. There is some evidence to suggest that the original families who started glass making here might have been from Germany or France, so maybe they brought glass making skills with them, and perhaps a linen smoother was one the necessities of late medieval living. The glass industry in this area seems to have come to an end with the prohibition of wood-firing for the glass furnaces in the C17, when workers were forced to use coal.
One of these Weald locations was a small two hearth furnace - only fifty yards apart so it seems the archeologists count this area as one furnace - at an area known as Wisborough Green in West Sussex (site No. 23 in Kenyon's book). On plate XVI (16) together with other fragments of bottles etc., there is item No. 6 with the caption "Handle, probably for a linen-smoother, from site No. 23). It has the usual slightly bobbin-turned shape, but as the captions says, it is missing the mushroomed head, although there would seem no reason to doubt it was originally a smoother or lace/linen dabber. Kenyon's site No. 23 has been dated to somewhere around 1570 - 1600, so looks to be right at the very end of what is called the medieval period, I think - the 'handle' shown on plate 16 has picked up some iridescence along the way as you'd expect, so difficult to assess its original colour, but possibly a typical darkish bottle greenish/brown.
Wilkinson shows a 'dark green handled linen or lace dabber, with similar shaped handle to the Wisborough Green example, and appears to be saying it dates to the fine lace period of the C18.
In 'The History of Glass' by Dan Klein and Ward Lloyd - page 47 - these authors repeat much of Kenyon's information on the history of the Wealden glass industry, and confirm that glass making in that area was started somewhere in the C13 by French emigrees and they state that the Chiddingfold location became the most important medieval glass making centre in England etc. etc. etc., ...... "the most common objects made in England included glass lamps for both secular and ecclesiastical use; broad, horizontal-rimmed urinals with either tubular or conical neck; green glass bottle up to 23cm (9 in) high with a long, tapering, often ribbed neck spreading rim and concave base; items that may have been 'linen-smoothers', shaped like a mushroom cap etc. etc. etc.
These authors don't comment specifically on dates for the smoothers, but since their book was published in 1984, it's probable that they were simply using information from Kenyon's book.
So, as far as England is concerned we may have smoothers or lace dabbers etc. dating to C13 or C14 (possibly late ish in this period).
I find it hard to visualize these domestic items being used by Vikings - I appreciate they created some impressive jewellery, but lace and linen smoothers I'm struggling with. :)
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They used them on boards in the Viking era, they didn't have handles at that time, (so were just the foot, a 'slicken stone' ) and were held in the hand and rubbed the linen over a board :)
I'll find some pictures for you.
Then, at a later date, they grew handles. Like mine and the one in the museum.
I think they must have been used for small items,so the ribbon (ribband) smoother reference I found, along with instructions on how to clean the ribbon, fits well with being smaller items.
Mine has been well used. I will post some pics when I get time.
m
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and sorry, how rude of me, thank you for taking the time to type up all that information and look it up for me.
I appreciate it. :)
m
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Paul, here is a reference for you with picture of board and stone and a bit more detail :)
http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-043-838-C
Another picture of a broken item - I think I read also that they may have been used for shining linen. Certainly when I tried it on damp linen it made the surface sleek and sheeny, but I can't imagine using them (even with the whole day of time on your hands) to 'iron' something larger than a small ish area.
http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Valhalla-Loom-Weights-Linen-Smoother-800x534.jpg
and here the British museum describe a broken one missing it's handle and appear to be dating it 1650-1750
and do mention they were used for glossing linen
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/236471
m
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thanks for the pix and extra info m ............... very interesting.
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There is a reference here that I cannot open (snippet view) that appears to state the following:
'Holme's spelling is consistent with medieval usage, but slickstone was the form of the word used by the Company, and by Mrs Haywood in 1771, when flint slickstones had largely superceded those of bottle-glass. The earliest evidence for flint-glass slickstones seems to be a "small" example in the British ...' (and there endeth the snippet view)
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eQ3yAAAAMAAJ&q=slickstone+riband&dq=slickstone+riband&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXjLTyuNnRAhVD2xoKHX3bA8sQ6AEIGjAA
So ... I think that came from the Journal of the Society of Glass Technology vol 22 1938.
hmm, perhaps bottle glass slickstones (like mine and the one in the Stewartry museum) were generally pre 1771 then?
Then there is this:
A book dated 1811 but I thought I had found the same reference in earlier books dating to c.1780s but might have made that up.
The Female Instructor; Or Young Woman's companion: pp 365 under the para 'To Clean Ribbons' there is a description of smoothing them using a glass slick-stone.
This para is copied from earlier volumes of 'housekeeping' type journals and I am sure I found one going back to 1786. So... it's not possible to know whether it was just repeatedly copied regardless of whether they really were still in use or not. I seem to recall getting to a slightly later volume perhaps 1820s and that para had been taken out by then interestingly.
Ah, this volume is 1865 and the cleaning of ribbons has been taken out but sleekstones still feature in the cleaning of chintz - page 195
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=avlAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA195&dq=holme+sleekstone&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwidqJCdxNnRAhWpKcAKHW51AXwQ6AEIODAE#v=onepage&q=holme%20sleekstone&f=false
I have also read that they were used for smoothing the inside of hats in hatmaking.
m
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York Museums Trust has a date of 1750-1850 for these two dark glass pieces:
http://www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/collections/search/item/?id=45001532&search_query=bGltaXQ9MTYmQ0wlNUIwJTVEPVNvY2lhbCtIaXN0b3J5
Which doesn't tie in with the info I gave above although that came from 1938:
''Holme's spelling is consistent with medieval usage, but slickstone was the form of the word used by the Company, and by Mrs Haywood in 1771, when flint slickstones had largely superceded those of bottle-glass. The earliest evidence for flint-glass slickstones seems to be a "small" example in the British ...' (and there endeth the snippet view)
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eQ3yAAAAMAAJ&q=slickstone+riband&dq=slickstone+riband&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXjLTyuNnRAhVD2xoKHX3bA8sQ6AEIGjAA
So ... I think that came from the Journal of the Society of Glass Technology vol 22 1938.
hmm, perhaps bottle glass slickstones (like mine and the one in the Stewartry museum) were generally pre 1771 then?'
Knowledge may have moved on but again there is a longer reference to them here in this book by John Evans published 1897 pp441 and 442 in ' The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain' - and it appears to be written without implying they were a 'recent' thing -
https://archive.org/stream/ancientstoneimpl00evanuoft#page/442/mode/2up/search/slickstone
And he talks about two he owns with handles being ribbed and that they are of clear and bottle green glass.
m
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- An interesting reference in the 'Archaeological Evidence for Glassworking, Guidelines for Best Practice' dated 2011 from English Heritage,
stating that most from the 10th century and later are dark green or brown potash glass and showing a photograph.
pp26
https://content.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/glassworkingguidelines/glassworking-guidelines.pdf/
'Linen smoothers, or slick stones,were used for finishing cloth. A few early examples were made from a black, lead rich glass now known to be waste slag from lead smelting (Gratuze et al 2003), which was probably imported. Most linen smoothers dating from the 10th century and later are made from dark green or brown potash glass (Fig 61); this type of ‘forest’ glass became the norm in later centuries (eg Henderson 1993).'
- But the comment from Journal of the Society of Glass Technology vol 22 1938 still appears to be the only evidence indicating that by 1771 flint glass slickstones had superseded those of bottle glass
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Info on linen smoothers France made from glassy slag,10th century,page 337 onwards - page 337 shows an example:
https://hal.science/hal-01857178/file/AIHV_20eCongres_Pactat.pdf
and see pages 130-131 here:
http://eurominunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/9780903056618-03_ang.pdf
Description from Archeology of York 17/11 on how linen smoothers were used:
page 1775- 1779
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c62d8bb809d8e27588adcc0/t/5cc85f9fe4966b1f82dc0c9d/1556635568992/low+res+AY17-11-Textile+Production.pdf
Looks like mine:
Platt Hall - 18th century linen smoother or 19th century? date not clear from the site
https://www.platthall.org/19221061.html
https://www.platthall.org/thursday-23-july-2020.html
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Still looking into this every now and again :)
In this book published 1897, there is mention page 440 (starting mid page) 441 and 442 of glass linen smoothers or slickstones. The author says (bottom page 441) he owns three glass mushroom shaped items. It was published in 1897 and doesn't appear to talk as though these are recent types of household items? That said, he talks about one without a handle, found in a Viking grave and in a museum in Scotland and does say 'The same form was recently in use in Scotland'. Obviously the word 'recently' doing a lot of heavy lifting. No idea what that means:
Quote: 'A small slickstone of black glass, without a handle, was found in a Viking grave of a woman in Islay. The same form was recently in use in Scotland.
A large one is in the Kirkcudbright Museum(he gives the source for this sentence as "Vest.Ant.Derb pg29").
Another, provided with a long smooth handle has likewise been figured.'.
Source: The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain, Sir John Evans K.C.B., published Longmans, Green & Co 1897(second edition I think)
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Ancient_Stone_Implements_Weapons_and/HOUNAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=slickstone+buckram&pg=PA441&printsec=frontcover
Interestingly in this previous edition of the book which was published 1872- Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer, the discussion of glass slickstone is on pages 394-396 and there is no mention of the Viking grave find or the one in the museum in Scotland.
And no mention of the handless glass form being used 'recently' in Scotland.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_ancient_stone_implements/eFdG0ecbCggC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=slickstone+buckram&pg=PA395&printsec=frontcover
Is it possible the word 'recently' means more recently than Viking?
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Still looking into this every now and again :)
In this book published 1897, there is mention page 440 (starting mid page) 441 and 442 of glass linen smoothers or slickstones. The author says (bottom page 441) he owns three glass mushroom shaped items. It was published in 1897 and doesn't appear to talk as though these are recent types of household items? That said, he talks about one without a handle, found in a Viking grave and in a museum in Scotland and does say 'The same form was recently in use in Scotland'. Obviously the word 'recently' doing a lot of heavy lifting. No idea what that means:
Quote: 'A small slickstone of black glass, without a handle, was found in a Viking grave of a woman in Islay. The same form was recently in use in Scotland.
A large one is in the Kirkcudbright Museum(he gives the source for this sentence as "Vest.Ant.Derb pg29").
Another, provided with a long smooth handle has likewise been figured.'.
...
Interestingly in this previous edition of the book which was published 1872- Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer, the discussion of glass slickstone is on pages 394-396 and there is no mention of the Viking grave find or the one in the museum in Scotland.
And no mention of the handless glass form being used 'recently' in Scotland.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_ancient_stone_implements/eFdG0ecbCggC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=slickstone+buckram&pg=PA395&printsec=frontcover
Is it possible the word 'recently' means more recently than Viking?
So, this document below appears to counteract the previous quote about them being recently in use in Scotland but does mention them being in use in Norway. It is the report written 1879 of the two viking graves in Islay, By Joseph Anderson, Assistant Secretary and Keeper of the Museum:
https://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/5902/5872
See pages 63 (from half way down where he starts about the contents of the woman's grave) and 64. In that he says 'No other specimen of this implement has ever occurred on this side of the North Sea, but it is far from uncommon in Norway'.
I think although this is talking about a slickstone without a handle, if the author had known about slickstones with handles then he might not have written the above comment? He wrote that report in 1879. Therefore how 'recently' were these handled slickstones in use?
The graves were discovered in 1878 so 6 years after Sir John Evans wrote the first book published in 1872 which explains why there was no mention in the 1872 version.
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1684 account of a slickstone being used as a murder weapon :o
https://books.google.co.uk/books/content?id=45hNotyskjUC&pg=PA1&img=1&pgis=1&dq=slick+-+stone&bul=1&sig=ACfU3U2L-U3tdiuFivgdpmIC7ZQPHOEVag&edge=0
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_True_Account_of_the_Proceedings_on_the/45hNotyskjUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=slickstone+wales&pg=PA1&printsec=frontcover
but no description of whether it was glass or had a handle. It was however described as a 'Slick - Stone or Smoothing-Iron'.
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I have found this - a report of the actual words used in the letter of the original description of the Kirkcudbright linen smoother with the handle, very like my linen smoother.
I've attached the evidence having photographed it off screen as it's too long to type up.
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, One Hundred and First Session, 1880-1881 - on page 192 a report and picture of the linen smoother from Gribdae, By George Hamilton, Kirkcudbright, F. S. A. Scotland. It's dated Proceedings of the Society, April 11, 1881:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Proceedings_of_the_Society_of_Antiquarie/ll52di4ljB0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gribdae+linen+smoother&pg=PA372&printsec=frontcover
I also need to correct my comment in Reply #11 where I said the author in the article said they weren't used in Scotland. Further in the article he comments that someone present said the smoother had been in use 'long ago' in their household and went and searched for the smoother and found it, so it was engraved for that article in Fig. 21, 22, 23 (see page 64 of link):
https://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/5902/5872
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If I'm right, then William Bell (who, George Hamilton said in 1881, presented the linen smoother to the museum) died in 1861 and his father was John Bell who died in 1835.
So using these dates, it seems William Bell presented this to the museum before 1861 before he died. Hamilton said it was found buried on the farm where William Bell's father resided and lay 'tossing about Balgreddon, a neighbouring farm where Mr Bell's father resided, used for crushing sugar or saltpetre and the like'. The way that is worded could imply Mr Bell's father used it. If so that would have meant it was used before he died in 1835.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136491675/william_bell
So - Linen smoother or sugar crusher? That is the question.
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I've just noticed some things in my book of The Woodchester Glass House.
Not relevant to this thread but anyway ...
It has no dustjacket.
On the inside front cover is a label 'Reference Department Public Library of Dundee', Class H, Number 397(?4)31.
On the right hand page facing ifc is a pencil written note '1st Ed, Scarce, £40'.
Hope it hasn't been stolen from the library!
And pertaining to the 'linen smoother':
On pages 9 and 10 referring to plates III and IV in the book where pictures are shown, there is a detailed discussion from the author about what other people have called these and then whether these are pestles, a block for mending lacework or linen smoothers.
He says 'This last appears the most probable'. Hmmm, so the author wasn't entirely sure what it was.
He doesn't provide any primary evidence that these mushroom shaped glass articles with handles are linen smoothers.
Given that in 1881, referring to the Viking linen smoother with no handle, the Society for Antiquaries said ' Miss Henderson of Stemstor, in Caithness, who was also present, remarked that an implement similar to this had been used long ago in their house for a similar purpose, viz., the smoothing or glazing of linen, and that she believed the implement was still in existence.' and that she had then gone and found the bun shaped glass smoother with no handle (pictured in the Antiquaries report), I am beginning to wonder where the fact has come from that these upside down mushroom shapes with handles were actually linen smoothers.
Also that the author of the Antiquaries report said they, the dented bun shaped items with no handle, were still in use in Norway.
Are these upside down mushroom shaped items actually linen smoothers? or is it just that they have a mushroom bottom that looks very like a viking era linen smoother?
George Hamilton from the museum makes a very interesting point as an addendum at the bottom of his letter to the Society of Antiquaries. He says
'[It may be added that the early specimen from the viking grave (to the description of which we owe our knowledge of the three specimens of the modern implement) has never had a handle, at least of glass]
[/i]'
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If I'm right, then William Bell (who, George Hamilton said in 1881, presented the linen smoother to the museum) died in 1861 and his father was John Bell who died in 1835.
So using these dates, it seems William Bell presented this to the museum before 1861 before he died. Hamilton said it was found buried on the farm where William Bell's father resided and lay 'tossing about Balgreddon, a neighbouring farm where Mr Bell's father resided, used for crushing sugar or saltpetre and the like'. The way that is worded could imply Mr Bell's father used it. If so that would have meant it was used before he died in 1835.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136491675/william_bell
So - Linen smoother or sugar crusher? That is the question.
Another question - if these handled items like upside down mushrooms were known to be linen smoothers and used that way in the early 1800s (I have read a few reports that date them into the 19th century), then WHY was it being used on William Bell's fathers farm in Scotland as a sugar or saltpetre crusher? William Bell had three sisters still alive in the early 1800s. If it was known as a linen smoother then wouldn't it have been used as such? not presented to the museum before 1861 as something dug up from a field, a curiosity?
I can see why in 1881 the Scottish lady looked at the viking non handled squashed bun version and remembered they had something the same at home used in a bygone era. It's an odd shaped thing with no handle. But for William Bell to present the handled version at a museum as a 'found in the field' item before 1861, and no one to know what it was, then I cannot believe these handled mushroom shaped items were being used as linen-smoothers in the early 19th century.
https://canmore.org.uk/site/64543/gribdae
So I think the item (mine included) dates earlier than 19th century. Is it a linen smoother? used much earlier than 1861 and everyone had forgotten what it was or never knew because it was so much earlier than 1861. Or was it used for something else?
Obviously I'm curious about this Scottish museum item because my item was bought from Solway Firth area. Mine differs from the one in the museum because I think the one in the museum has a straight handle with no finger grips. Mine has slight undulations in the handle that look as though they might be finger grips. The one in the Woodchester book doesn't appear to have finger grips and is straight up like the museum item.
Interestingly the Corning says:
'An object believed to have served as a pressing iron. The earliest linen smoothers date from the Middle Ages, and the latest were made in the 18th century.'
https://allaboutglass.cmog.org/definition/linen-smoother
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https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25846/lot/792/a-dark-green-glass-linen-smoother-british-circa-1650/
There appears to have been a collection of 8 or more of these items sold here - all as linen smoothers (latest being c.1820 but the one nearest to mine dated c.1650):
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25846/the-brookwell-collection-of-smoothing-implements/?page=9
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In 1896 there was a report of a green glass linen smoother being bought by a museum in Wiltshire. I seem to remember a report of something being found in Wilts by someone called Fry on my searches so it could be this.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Catalogue_of_Antiquities_in_the_Museum_o/7z4GAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=museum+glass+linen+smoother&pg=RA2-PA137&printsec=frontcover
Page 137 listed under Miscellaneous Objects:
Quote:
'M164 Green Glass Linen Smoother. 5 1/4 x 5 1/2in. From North Wilts. Purchased.
Formerly used for calendering, or smoothing linen in the course of manufacture.' (the last sentence typed in smaller font underneath description)
So in 1896 this museum was saying that the item was used in the course of manufacture. Doesn't imply an everyday laundering use to me.
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In 1896 there was a report of a green glass linen smoother being bought by a museum in Wiltshire. I seem to remember a report of something being found in Wilts by someone called Fry on my searches so it could be this.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Catalogue_of_Antiquities_in_the_Museum_o/7z4GAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=museum+glass+linen+smoother&pg=RA2-PA137&printsec=frontcover
Page 137 listed under Miscellaneous Objects:
Quote:
'M164 Green Glass Linen Smoother. 5 1/4 x 5 1/2in. From North Wilts. Purchased.
Formerly used for calendering, or smoothing linen in the course of manufacture.' (this last sentence typed in smaller font underneath description)
So in 1896 this museum was saying that the item was used in the course of manufacture. Doesn't imply an everyday laundering use to me.
I can't quite see how this could have been used in manufacture. Unless for very small articles. And I think 'calendering' required heat.
I cannot see how these stones whether stone or glass could have been heated to be used without burning the users hand. Perhaps the handled glass versions were stood on a hot metal plate or something rather than held in an open fire to heat up? Any thoughts/ideas welcome.
In China it seems 1000 years earlier they were using hot flat pans with long handles to press material (or that's what I've read and seen a picture of but who knows?). Burning hands on a small hot stone or piece of glass seems a bit odd to me by comparison.
So I think that sentence perhaps not a correct description.
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With reference to my original post regarding J.G Scott querying whether the handled Gribdae farm linen smoother was viking era
https://canmore.org.uk/site/64543/gribdae
he questioned this in the 1954-56 proceedings citing reference that it had been brought to his attention that Woodchester glasshouse had produced these in the late 1500s. Hence him questioning the dating of this handled Gribdae farm item as a viking era item.
The Woodchester Glass House book, J. Stuart Daniels, was published by John Bellows Limited in 1950.
Mine differs from the one in the museum because I think the Gribdae farm one in the museum has a straight handle with no finger grips and mine has slight undulations in the handle that look as though they might be finger grips.
The one reproduction item pictured in the Woodchester book Plate III fig 16 doesn't appear to have finger grips but is straight up like the Gribdae museum item.
However ... it also has a rounded top, not broken off as mine is and the one from Gribdae is:
https://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/8474/8442
If I have read the book correctly (see page 9 under 'PLATE IV' for book explanation) this is supposed to be a reproduction of the item fragments found at Woodchester shown on Plate IV figs 20,21,22.
Those pictured fragments show a straight up 'handle' with a straight across top and bottom. The bottom of the handle appears to have some extra glass attached on the right hand side. BUT it doesn't show a handle with a rounded off top as the apparent reproduction does.
So the reproduction isn't faithful is it? How did Powell's know the top of the handle should be rounded off?
There are a number of linen smoothers with handles shown here - some from Museum of London. None have rounded tops:
http://www.theglassmakers.co.uk/pdffiles/linensmoothers.pdf
and
https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/search/collections/?q=linen+smoother
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The Knopf Collector' Guides to American Antiques, GLASS, Volume 2, Bottles,Lamps & other Objects written by Jane Shadel Spillman pictures one in a dark olive green glass with a thumb rest on the top
{see photo of my quick sketch}. I sketched it from memory and left out one of the knops for a total of four on the original piece which would make it more in proportion to its base. She puts the date at 1800-1850. She feels they were used at room temperature as the tendency to crack would be way too high.
The one in the CMOG {50.4.489} evidently has a definite provenance from the Willington Glassworks c.1800-1825. No shaft really just a knob.
While I am no laundry expert, I believe early 19th century laundering methods went something like this: fill your metal tub with water, put it on the stand over the fire, heat it up, add your linen/whatever and have your cleanser close at hand, scrub like hell.
I would posit that the linen smoother would come into play right after the wringing out of the excess water and the linen/whatever was still warm and damp.
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The Knopf Collector' Guides to American Antiques, GLASS, Volume 2, Bottles,Lamps & other Objects written by Jane Shadel Spillman pictures one in a dark olive green glass with a thumb rest on the top
{see photo of my quick sketch}. I sketched it from memory and left out one of the knops for a total of four on the original piece which would make it more in proportion to its base. She puts the date at 1800-1850. She feels they were used at room temperature as the tendency to crack would be way too high.
The one in the CMOG {50.4.489} evidently has a definite provenance from the Willington Glassworks c.1800-1825. No shaft really just a knob.
While I am no laundry expert, I believe early 19th century laundering methods went something like this: fill your metal tub with water, put it on the stand over the fire, heat it up, add your linen/whatever and have your cleanser close at hand, scrub like hell.
I would posit that the linen smoother would come into play right after the wringing out of the excess water and the linen/whatever was still warm and damp.
Is there evidence the one in the Corning from Willington Glassworks was definitely used as an iron/linen smoother? It says it's badly worn from usage. I'm just wondering how many linen items the poor person would have had to iron to make that amount of wear on it.
Mine is very worn in the central area at the bottom - the shine is worn off. But the rest of it apart from the odd scuff patch on the side of the base looks as though it were made yesterday. Yet I think it's 400 years old.
If I hold it with my thumb on what 'appears' to be a broken top, it fits very nicely.
I will look up the Shadel Spillman item if I can find it - thank you :)
I don't know if they were used on damp cloth to be honest. I mean ironing a long skirt with a stone with a handle is ridiculous to me. Especially a stone shape that wasn't flat at the base but curved. It would have taken hours. But to press creases or seams or smaller collars then I can see that perhaps yes,with the curve shaped bottom good so as not to snag surrounding material whilst pressing a small area. That said, it would have still been ridiculously unwieldy to have used the one with a handle to iron a seam. I mean ... really, to be honest I'm struggling to see how these could have been used as linen smoothers.
I can see how in medieval time a smooth stone might have been used hand held cupped in the hand. But not these heavy ones with handles attached.
Washing laundry was a very convoluted art. Heavy big materials, lots of cloth etc - various recipes in late 1700/early 1800s book talk about boiling rice, then removing rice, boiling the item in rice water, then pressing it but not with a hot iron etc. and that's just for Chintz or ribbons depending on which year and which journal you're reading.
I think what I'm coming to is that I think mine is much older than 1800s. And I think the Gribdae farm one is as well. They are a good match for what is in the Woodchester Glass House book but the book isn't a pattern book of course.
The Woodchester author wrote (published 1954) 'Various observers have considered them to be pestles for pulverising or grinding glass-making materials, and others have thought them to be linen smoothers for domestic use'. So there was debate in 1954 over what they could have been used for.
I can't find anything of contemporary times that describes these handled items as linen smoothers.
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For example this item in the Bonhams sale weighs well over 20lb! Mine is heavy but not that heavy and I can't imagine ironing a seam with that.
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25846/lot/800/a-very-large-green-glass-linen-smoother-probably-dublin-ireland-circa-1760/
In the original Gribdae proceedings reports somewhere there was an enquiry about one in a York museum that weighed 25lb and asking if that was a linen smoother. I will try and find that.
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This is a good side on view of a similar item. It shows the small amount of glass that would have had contact at the base.
Unless there was a specific rocking method used for smoothing linen and rocking the implement then it's a very small area of contact.
If there was a specific rocking method then wouldn't there be wear all over the base of these items rather than just in the middle like mine is?
https://www.exhibitantiques.com/item/3756/exhibitantiques/Antique-Georgian-Glass-Linen-Smoother-c1750-1820.html
I suppose contact with damp linen would cause some friction but it seems an awful lot of wear to come from a piece of linen material. 100% Linen material glass cloths are sold even now and are the only ones I use to dry and shine my glasses as cotton doesn't work.
I can't think of another use for them except as a muller for some kind of paste mixing or /spices/salt/sugar lumps /paints etc. and I think paint mullers are flat on the base? but not sure.
Smoothers of some kind seem to have been used for leather working but from the little I could read about that I think they were flat pieces of glass with a smoothed long edge.
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I suppose they could have more than one usage. Some may have started out as linen smoothers then eventually serve a purpose wholly divorced from such a task. Spillman does mention in the comment section of the Knopfs book concerning the smoother " although early colonists brought European-made linen smoothers to this country, examples were also made here in bottle and window glass houses".I assume that comment is not taken from "thin air" as we say and some documentation some where backs that up. My copy of Knopfs GLASS 2 is a first printing c.1983. A 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. paperback designed to fit in the pocket or purse. 346 items taking up one page each including a nice photograph. The text on each page features six informational categories for each piece, Description,Variations,Type and Dimensions, Locality and Period, Comment, and Hints for Collectors. I doubt you will find an excerpt somewhere, then again one never knows.
The one in my collection is a fairly simple affair and I will show you mine even though you haven't shown me yours....Ha. Ha. It has some grinding around the top edge of the short handle I assume to take away some sharpe edges.
So some are flat and some are rounded, curious.
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aah no I think the one in the photograph appears as a flat top (Woodchester original fragment of handle) but I wonder if it's cracked off the pontil rod and left rough. All the ones in black glass I've seen have rough tops to the handles! They can't have all had the tops of their handles broken. For a start if it was dropped on the floor then I think the heavy bottom mushroom end would land first. And mine is leadweight glass so I can't see that handle breaking at the top. I think they were made like that (but then I know absolutely nothing about glassmaking).
So - this one was for sale through Sworders a few months ago:
https://www.sworder.co.uk/auction/lot/249-a-black-green-glass-linen-smoother-or-sleek-stone/?lot=504790&sd=1
The little personal label on it (so not evidence but interesting nonetheless) says early 18th century slicker used for polishing wood floors. I did read that somewhere in my myriad of searches.
So ... now ... I can actually picture that usage in my head , a cloth wound round a slicker and used to polish off the floor. Yes I can relate to that. Though I've used a small block of wood with a cloth wound round it. So I still think a flat surface would have been more efficient and better for that job.
I've checked out what painters mullers I can find and I think they would have had a flat base.
Which leaves so far a possible for it being a muller used in a bowl for griding salt chunks and sugar lumps or similar. Or something else to a powder.
Or ... a painful to use linen smoother.
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Thought I’d add some of my pictures for this interesting thread, the black one is around 6.5 inches similar to wrockwardine early Nailsea glass and very well worn. The red cotton twist around 4.5 inches also well worn, sold both of these a long time ago for a local enthusiast. Then I recently found my little opalescent Vaseline one around 3.5 inches and had to buy it because I’ve never seen another. It has no wear and I presume from around 1890’s. Clear Vaseline inside with white opalescent around the outside. Described as a darning mushroom???? Not quite sure of its purpose.
Regards Mike
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So, adding some pics.
Mine is 14.5 cm tall by 10 cm wide.
It may be damaged at the top but it is smooth to touch.
Some areas are shiny at the top and some are matt.
The base 'bun' is very indented on top where the handle joins the foot.
I did have a photograph long ago where I managed to finally get some strong light through it at that top and it was green streaky glass. Cannot replicate that to take a new pic unfortunately.
I think this is much older than 1900s.
And now I'm looking at the wear on the base, I recall seeing those funny scratchy outward facing marks on another one. Would linen make those marks? It looks to me like someone pushed down on the foot against something scratchy/hard and then pulled the object towards them. Kind of like if you were holding a big bowl of something against your body and then ground whatever the something was pulling the muller towards you in regular motions. Do you know what I mean?
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I can't weigh it as no scales but it's very heavy and easy to use but unwieldy to hold/use because of the weight.
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Thought I’d add some of my pictures for this interesting thread, the black one is around 6.5 inches similar to wrockwardine early Nailsea glass and very well worn. The red cotton twist around 4.5 inches also well worn, sold both of these a long time ago for a local enthusiast. Then I recently found my little opalescent Vaseline one around 3.5 inches and had to buy it because I’ve never seen another. It has no wear and I presume from around 1890’s. Clear Vaseline inside with white opalescent around the outside. Described as a darning mushroom???? Not quite sure of its purpose.
Regards Mike
Mike I've seen something like your clear one described I think(!! can't remember where I saw it now) as 19th century Czechoslovakian. I think.
The opalescent one could be a darning mushroom. It looks a bit fine but also could it be more recent? Is it lightweight? Darning mushrooms are usually wood and very easy to use :)
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I suppose they could have more than one usage. Some may have started out as linen smoothers then eventually serve a purpose wholly divorced from such a task. Spillman does mention in the comment section of the Knopfs book concerning the smoother " although early colonists brought European-made linen smoothers to this country, examples were also made here in bottle and window glass houses".I assume that comment is not taken from "thin air" as we say and some documentation some where backs that up. My copy of Knopfs GLASS 2 is a first printing c.1983. A 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. paperback designed to fit in the pocket or purse. 346 items taking up one page each including a nice photograph. The text on each page features six informational categories for each piece, Description,Variations,Type and Dimensions, Locality and Period, Comment, and Hints for Collectors. I doubt you will find an excerpt somewhere, then again one never knows.
The one in my collection is a fairly simple affair and I will show you mine even though you haven't shown me yours....Ha. Ha. It has some grinding around the top edge of the short handle I assume to take away some sharpe edges.
So some are flat and some are rounded, curious.
Cagney thank you for that further information. Much appreciated. I think what I'm a bit surprised about is that neither the Stewartry museum nor the author of the Scottish Antiquaries proceedings written in 1878 had ever come across either the viking article or the one from Gribdae farm and did not know what either were.
It also seems that when the handled one was donated to the Stewartry museum (presume pre 1861 as the donor was dead by then) no one knew what it was then either.
So if these were in such normal every day use as linen smoothers I might have presumed they would have known what they were.
The donators father (who had died in 1835) had been using it to grind sugar and salt and even if one assumes the story about the cairn find might not be true he surely wouldn't be donating a well known item for the era and pretending it was something else - surely someone would have realised?
And I do think the donor obviously thought it was something interesting and special otherwise why would he have taken it to the museum? He obviously donated it decades before the viking article was written about so it wasn't to do with jumping on a bandwagon. The description of his farm sounds as though he was quite well off and the farm was very large. I know that memories can be opaque and the wording of the Stewartry letter to the Society does appear to put 2 and 3 together and come up with 4 to make the situation fit a 'viking' cairn find but it could well be that William Bell did find it under a heap of stones. Just that it wasn't a viking find.
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and coming back to usage - I can imagine holding this very early version with no handle in my hand with my hand over the dome shape and using the base curved edges to smooth linen (IF it was used that way then that might be why the pontil mark was depressed so as to ensure no snagging?)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glass_linen_smoother,_top_view_%28FindID_95028%29.jpg
But the one with the handle would have been shaped the other way up with the domed shape against the fabric.
This is a version from the book by Kent Andersson, Glass:From Romans to Vikings - Uppsala, Balderson Publisher, 2010
https://celeratheroman.wordpress.com/2020/08/24/blown-viking-linen-smoother/
It shows this particular green pointed linen smoother on a board and dome upwards.
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All very nice photos. I think I detect a certain.,,,Primitiveness? in m's example that may indicate an earlier date.The darning mushroom is a first for me as well. Darning eggs and Stocking darners as Spillman terms them [round head with handle about 5 to 6 in. total length, always hollow and usually colored or art glass] not uncommon here. According to Spillman not a factory inventory item. Dated c.1880s to 1920. Steuben examples in their iridescent colors very expensive.
Dimensions of my smoother: 9.5 cm wide x 9 cm high and about 1 1/2 lbs. Small wear spot at center of dome. Handle possibly broken off at some time.and thus shortened, hard to say.
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The black one possibly 18th century, the red cotton twist one possibly 1800 ish not sure why a auction house attributed it to being Czech ( I think that maybe a red herring) I don’t understand why both of those are so worn and scratched if they were used to smooth linen? Maybe the black one is a slicker stone for polishing wooden boards. I’ve not managed to find any glass darning mushrooms.
I think my opalescent one would be around 1890 ish. Although not a muller ( paint muller has a flat base) someone did mention it could be to squash oil paint pigments?????
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I've had a possible lightbulb moment. I was driving in the rain in the car tonight. Our windscreen is 14 years old. It's had windscreen wipers rubbing across the glass for 14 years. My windscreen obviously doesn't look anything like the base of my black glass linen smoother - and probably others but I need to go and have another search as I don't recall seeing the base shot of any of the items ::)
I don't believe it was a linen smoother.
I mean this one here is bigger than mine but added to which it weighs 10kg which is about 23lb. Or the weight of three babies!! That's some different kind of object/implement altogether to a small round black viking slick stone used for smoothing linen. Unless they weren't small. Will go and check dimensions now on the viking examples.
https://www.bonhams.com/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg1.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%2Flive%2F2019-07%2F11%2F94629254-421-1.jpg%26height%3D430%26quality%3D90&w=2400&q=75
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25846/lot/800/a-very-large-green-glass-linen-smoother-probably-dublin-ireland-circa-1760/
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The black one possibly 18th century, the red cotton twist one possibly 1800 ish not sure why a auction house attributed it to being Czech ( I think that maybe a red herring) I don’t understand why both of those are so worn and scratched if they were used to smooth linen? Maybe the black one is a slicker stone for polishing wooden boards. I’ve not managed to find any glass darning mushrooms.
I think my opalescent one would be around 1890 ish. Although not a muller ( paint muller has a flat base) someone did mention it could be to squash oil paint pigments?????
It was from Bonhams a whole collection of them sold. And that was only in 2019, 2 October 2019 in Oxford. So it's a very recent identification.
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25846/lot/801/a-clear-and-red-glass-linen-smoother-czechoslovakian-circa-1830/
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I've had a possible lightbulb moment. I was driving in the rain in the car tonight. Our windscreen is 14 years old. It's had windscreen wipers rubbing across the glass for 14 years. My windscreen obviously doesn't look anything like the base of my black glass linen smoother - and probably others but I need to go and have another search as I don't recall seeing the base shot of any of the items ::)
I don't believe it was a linen smoother.
I mean this one here is bigger than mine but added to which it weighs 10kg which is about 23lb. Or the weight of three babies!! That's some different kind of object/implement altogether to a small round black viking slick stone used for smoothing linen. Unless they weren't small. Will go and check dimensions now on the viking examples.
https://www.bonhams.com/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg1.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%2Flive%2F2019-07%2F11%2F94629254-421-1.jpg%26height%3D430%26quality%3D90&w=2400&q=75
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25846/lot/800/a-very-large-green-glass-linen-smoother-probably-dublin-ireland-circa-1760/
According to this information the ones without handles used from viking to medieval period were 6.5cm to 8.5cm and comfortable size to be held in the hand:
http://www.theglassmakers.co.uk/pdffiles/linensmoothers.pdf
Regarding the items with handles I can't imagine a servant thinking 'I'll just pop out and get the 23lb linen smoother so I can iron this collar' :o
Perhaps there was another use for them regarding linen? Perhaps they were weights to hold down piles of linen or something?
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Probably nothing in this at all but I do like a tenuous connection :)
In the linked Glassmakers paper, there are some fragments from a handled linen smoother shown as being excavated from Bickerstaffe.
Bickerstaffe has a connection to the Earl of Derby. See paper on excavation of c.1600 Bickerstaffe Glasshouse.
https://www.merseysidearchsoc.com/uploads/2/7/2/9/2729758/jmas_9_paper_1.pdf
My linen smoother was posted to me from Solway Firth area which I think is where Kirkcudbright is.
Kirkcudbright is where the similar, also handled linen smoother from William Bell is in the Stewartry museum.
Initially the only link I could find between Bickerstaffe/the Earl of Derby and Kirkcudbright was an invasion by the Earl of Derby on Kirkcudbright in 1507 :o. This is too early for a Huguenot glass item from later 1500s glasshouse at Bickerstaffe.
However, it seems in August 1650 a Lady Derby wrote from Kirkcudbright a letter to her sister-in-law. Lady Derby was in Kirkcudbright en-route from the Isle of Man:
http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/lw1874/ch07a.htm
So, not putting 2 and 2 together and making five BUT ... IF they were linen smoothers, then just saying ... maybe Lady Derby was travelling with lots of linen and a servant and left her Bickerstaffe made linen smoothers in Kirkcudbright ;D
Although I've no idea what the black glass at Bickerstaffe looked like. Mine could be completely the wrong colour of course.
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I've managed to take this under very strong light and it was the only show through I could get with very great difficulty. It shows the olive green colour of the glass although to the eye and under all the other lights I held it under it, it appears completely black.
I'm not suggesting it dates from c.1600. Just that I was curious so read up on the excavations.
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Sold by a Swedish Auction house - a ' Glättesten ' and listed as 18th century (no reference source). Looks similar in design on one side (the indented snapped pontil mark side), and colour and shape to the ones without a handle depicted in the 1878 Antiquaries of Scotland proceedings but is quite domed on the opposite side to the snapped pontil mark. It is actually quite a different shape on the domed side. This doesn't appear to have any abrasions on either side but photographs can be difficult to see detail. It appears to have the indented snapped off pontil mark on the flatter side.
https://auctionet.com/en/1610799-glattesten-glass-18th-century
See pages 64 an 65 for the Antiquaries Proceedings engravings:
https://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/5902/5872
This by comparison is the handled one from Gribdae (see page 192)
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Proceedings_of_the_Society_of_Antiquarie/ll52di4ljB0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gribdae+linen+smoother&pg=PA372&printsec=frontcover
On page 191 of the Proceedings of the Society 1880-1881 (dated April 11,1881) there is a recording of another donation from Edinburgh being made of an item similar to the Gribdae item / smoother. It is listed as:
Quote
'There were exhibited:
(1.) By J. Romilly Allen, F.S.A. Scotland
Implement of black glass obtained in Edinburgh its locality unknown. It measures 5 1/2 inches in diameter and stands 7 1/2 inches in height.
It is more concave in the upper part and less symmetrically formed than the Gribdae specimen (described below), which it closely resembles in form and appearance. Like it, also, this specimen has been a good deal worn on the convex side. It has been presented to the museum by Mr Allen and is well shown in the accompanying figure.' (I couldn't see an 'accompanying figure' - perhaps recorded in an earlier Proceedings? and just the text copied over?)
I'll take two photographs of pages 191 and 192 in the text and add them here-
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Proceedings_of_the_Society_of_Antiquarie/ll52di4ljB0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gribdae+linen+smoother&pg=PA372&printsec=frontcover
Interesting to note the mention of the 'good deal worn on the convex side' which it says the Gribdae one was as well. Mine is too as I've already mentioned.
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and coming back to usage - I can imagine holding this very early version with no handle in my hand with my hand over the dome shape and using the base curved edges to smooth linen (IF it was used that way then that might be why the pontil mark was depressed so as to ensure no snagging?)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glass_linen_smoother,_top_view_%28FindID_95028%29.jpg
But the one with the handle would have been shaped the other way up with the domed shape against the fabric.
This is a version from the book by Kent Andersson, Glass:From Romans to Vikings - Uppsala, Balderson Publisher, 2010
https://celeratheroman.wordpress.com/2020/08/24/blown-viking-linen-smoother/
It shows this particular green pointed linen smoother on a board and dome upwards.
I can imagine using the small handle-less bun shaped items to smooth linen.
I just can't imagine using the handled version to smooth linen. Unless it was for smoothing a very specific small area of line like a seam maybe?
To try and explain what I mean, if you use a mouse for your computer, it's curved top flat base is very easy to hold and manipulate. If that shape was heavier glass and was used for smoothing linen on the flat side I could imagine that. Turn the mouse upside down and I cannot see how that small area of contact could be used. That is the small area of contact that is on my handled linen-smoother item. There is no flatter area, which there seems to have been on non-handled medieval slick stones/linen smoothers and where I could perhaps imagine using those slick stone items mostly on flat side but also the curved side perhaps used for specific area of smoothing. The handled one does not have that option. It's a huge chunk of glass to be used just to smooth down a seam on linen as well. I would think a non handled version would be easier.
Note the information on page 191 above where it mentions Cotgrave and his French dictionary where he translates the word lisse and makes mention of 'a rowler of massive glasse wherewith curriers do sleeke and glosse their leather'.
Could it just be that these handled versions are only similar to the slickstones of viking times because they have a mushroomy shape base with what would be an indented pontil mark on the top if the handle hadn't been attached? So they just look similar.
Perhaps their function was very different?
I dont' know what Cotgrave's 'massive rowler' looked like. Is 'rowler' a word for roller? That implies round to me. When I tried to look up using glass for leather it appeared to me the glass used was a flat rectangular piece of glass - I imagined a bit like a scraper kind of thing.
I thought I could imagine my handled linen-smoother item being used to smooth down seams on leather material. However, actually now thinking about it, using that heavy glass and pressing down on linen or leather with a very small area of the glass taking all the pressure might damage the material in that area. Needs more thought ...
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good photographs here
I think this was dated 1628-1631? but I'm never quite sure when trying to translate information:
from
Smålands museum
https://digitaltmuseum.se/021028255716/glattesten
A whole collection of them here:
https://digitaltmuseum.se/search/?aq=descname%3A%22Gl%C3%A4ttesten%22&o=0&n=60
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Could the big heavy ones be doorstops? The Bonhams one looks like it has a ring of wear at the widest point where it would contact a door. I have a 3kg dome shaped victorian dump “doorstop” that is not very easy to move without a handle, unless you kick it.
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It did occur Ekimp. I mean 25lb of glass is pretty big and a handle would mean it could be manouevred or rocked across the floor/ground more easily to move it out the way. Food for thought.
In the meantime this is a discussion on another board regarding the item with a handle. On another thread on there, there was a link to the digital museum saying all the linen smoothers were no handle apart from one in the collection.
Here is the link to the thread:
https://www.precisensan.com/antikforum/forum/forum-antikt-retro-design/glas/vrigt-glas/32028-orginellt-och-ovanligt-glasf-rem-l
And the link from the thread to the online museum digital collection Norway I think showing the one glass item with handle, all the others without. There was discussion on the thread about whether it was used for paint (the translation said 'stripping' but I wonder if that was about mixing or grinding paint and something lost in my translation?)
https://digitaltmuseum.no/search/?q=glattestein&o=0&n=108
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I have found this - a report of the actual words used in the letter of the original description of the Kirkcudbright linen smoother with the handle, very like my linen smoother.
I've attached the evidence having photographed it off screen as it's too long to type up.
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, One Hundred and First Session, 1880-1881 - on page 192 a report and picture of the linen smoother from Gribdae, By George Hamilton, Kirkcudbright, F. S. A. Scotland. It's dated Proceedings of the Society, April 11, 1881:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Proceedings_of_the_Society_of_Antiquarie/ll52di4ljB0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gribdae+linen+smoother&pg=PA372&printsec=frontcover
I also need to correct my comment in Reply #11 where I said the author in the article said they weren't used in Scotland. Further in the article he comments that someone present said the smoother had been in use 'long ago' in their household and went and searched for the smoother and found it, so it was engraved for that article in Fig. 21, 22, 23 (see page 64 of link):
https://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/5902/5872
I thought I'd look up the lady who mentioned an item (flat bun shaped round one - not the handled item) had been used in her house 'long ago' and sent search out to find the item which was then engraved in the above Proceedings.
It was a Miss Henderson of Stemster of Caithness who had been present when he was showing the item to someone else and it was she who said it had been used in her house 'long ago'.
https://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/5902/5872
I think Miss Henderson might have come from quite a big house with a very long history! - see link.
https://fionamsinclair.co.uk/genealogy/Caithness/Stemster.htm
Is this the house?
https://www.stemsterhouse.com/
The Proceedings were written in 1879.
She could have been one of the four daughters of Alexander Henderson who also had five sons. She was a Miss.
Of the daughters it's noted : Margaret died in 1879 unmarried, Johanna died 1880 unmarried. There was a Cecilia, and another sister Mary who married.
Then she could also have been a daughter of Alexander's successor David as he had three sons and four daughters and died in 1859. So she could have been quite old in 1879 (daughter of Alexander?) or a bit younger (daughter of David?).
OOOH HANG ON - EDIT forthcoming!
On here page 64 it says 'When showing the relics from the Ballinaby graves to Mr J. H. Chalmers of Aberdeen, a Fellow of The Society, Miss Henderson of Stemster in Caithness, who was also present ....'
https://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/5902/5872
The history of the Stemsters says there was a Mary Stemster (daughter of Alexander) married to a Charles Chalmers from Aberdeen.
Mr J. H. Chalmers was Mr Charles Chalmers' son:
https://www.myheritage.com/names/charles_chalmers
Which explains the link as to why a Miss Henderson of Stemster was present at the meeting.
Anyway, if this is the case, I can imagine that item might have been in her house for a long time - 'long ago' is very non-specific in terms of being able to pin down whether she meant 20 years ago, or 200 years ago really. The story of how it was used might have been conveyed to her verbally rather than her actually seeing the item in daily use if you see what I mean?
Although they were discussing the non-handled version my point is that in 1879 none of them knew what it was until she recognised it as from 'long ago'.
And the handled version had sat in the museum since presumably pre 1861 with even at that point no-one knowing what it was.
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Johanna died in 1880 so after the meeting took place. Her sister Margaret died in 1879 (year of the writing of the Proceedings)
Their sister Mary was married to Charles Chalmers who died in 1877. No death for Mary yet so it could have been Mary born 1796 who was with her son at the meeting.
Or it might have been Johanna who was present at the meeting with her nephew Mr J.H. Chalmers. Johanna would have been fairly old at that point. She died a year later and her sister Mary was born in 1796.
So 'long ago' could have meant turn of the 1800s.
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Could the big heavy ones be doorstops? The Bonhams one looks like it has a ring of wear at the widest point where it would contact a door. I have a 3kg dome shaped victorian dump “doorstop” that is not very easy to move without a handle, unless you kick it.
Ekimp, iirc somewhere in the Proceedings of the Society for Antiquaries Scotland (maybe 1879/80 when the handled item was shown in the letter from the Stewartry museum? ) there was also a letter from someone in another museum I think(??) saying they had a 25lb version and did they think that was a linen smoother. I'll search through again later and see if I can find that reference.
I think if it was a doorstop wouldn't someone have recognised it as such?
This is all so odd that in 1880 ish no one recognised these objects. And even in 1861 or before re the handled one.
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And the link from the thread to the online museum digital collection Norway I think showing the one glass item with handle, all the others without. There was discussion on the thread about whether it was used for paint (the translation said 'stripping' but I wonder if that was about mixing or grinding paint and something lost in my translation?)
https://digitaltmuseum.no/search/?q=glattestein&o=0&n=108
swedish speaker here: "grinding paint" (pigments) is the right translation here
Kerstin from Sweden
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Cagney thank you for that further information. Much appreciated. I think what I'm a bit surprised about is that neither the Stewartry museum nor the author of the Scottish Antiquaries proceedings written in 1878 had ever come across either the viking article or the one from Gribdae farm and did not know what either were.
It also seems that when the handled one was donated to the Stewartry museum (presume pre 1861 as the donor was dead by then) no one knew what it was then either.
So if these were in such normal every day use as linen smoothers I might have presumed they would have known what they were.
The donators father (who had died in 1835) had been using it to grind sugar and salt and even if one assumes the story about the cairn find might not be true he surely wouldn't be donating a well known item for the era and pretending it was something else - surely someone would have realised?
And I do think the donor obviously thought it was something interesting and special otherwise why would he have taken it to the museum? He obviously donated it decades before the viking article was written about so it wasn't to do with jumping on a bandwagon. The description of his farm sounds as though he was quite well off and the farm was very large. I know that memories can be opaque and the wording of the Stewartry letter to the Society does appear to put 2 and 3 together and come up with 4 to make the situation fit a 'viking' cairn find but it could well be that William Bell did find it under a heap of stones. Just that it wasn't a viking find.
Correction and apologies.
I think the William Bell who donated this might have been a F.S.A. and might have been the son of the father William Bell who died 1861.
Detailed information here on William Bell and his Father William Bell
http://www.kirkcudbright.co/kirkcudbright/lands.asp
and some here
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136491675/william_bell
So the donation may have been recent to Hamilton (1881 ish when his letter was written to the Proceedings). Hamilton wrote in his letter to the Proceedings in present tense I think.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Proceedings_of_the_Society_of_Antiquarie/ll52di4ljB0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gribdae+linen+smoother&pg=PA372&printsec=frontcover
And given I think William Bell might have been a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, it could well have been a 'ah, I have something like that at home!' moment after he'd seen the information from Dec 1878 re the medieval one without a handle.
Anyway, the son William Bell was born in 1845 and so was possibly 36 if it was donated to the museum in 1881 by him.
He was 15/16 when his father William Bell died in 1861. If we assume the account of the find was given by W.Bell the son, to Hamilton in 1881 ish and he accounted that it had been found 40 or so years ago that would have been before he was born.
He also accounted that he remembers his father using it to grind sugar and saltpetre - so a memory of before he was 16 in childhood but that was potentially only 20 years prior to the donation (assuming 1881).
He also apparently accounted that it was found digging a drain but the account from Hamilton does say Bell remembered talk about another drain being found on Gribdae. It all sounds a bit apochryphal on re-reading the letter from Hamilton.
I'm a bit confused about the sugar and salt petre mixing using the same implement but then I'm not a chemist.
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Hmmm -
Apparently in the 1780s a Druidical temple of stones was broken up to build a bridge nearby Gribdae.
In the 1850s a Mr Bell of Balgreddan told the Ordinance Survey people of this:
https://www.thenorthernantiquarian.org/2021/03/10/bombie/
William Bell senior may have told William Bell F.S.A. his son, of this story and it has been misremembered by William Bell the son, or misinterpreted between him and Hamilton when reporting the story.
So ... IF the story is true of some kind of 'cairn of stones' being found, perhaps that was Hamilton's interpretation of the story of the group of big Druidical stones being moved. That could mean the black handled 'linen-smoother' donated by Bell was found when THAT move of Druidical stones happened so perhaps that takes it back to 1780 ish of the find.
And given it was found when the Druidical temple was broken up - I wonder if it was buried and somehow linked to the building of the Druidical temple stones in some way?
Off to look up Druidical temples :o
Druidical temple example/info here:
https://bathgatehills.co.uk/cromlech-or-remains-of-druids-temple/
Having read this about druidical temples, it could just be that a heap of big stones were moved from one place to another in 1780 to make a drain. The reading of Hamilton has made a possible link to them being viking grave/burial possibly, but it could just be that they were a heap of stones. Still it could take the Gribdae 'linen-smoother' article back to 1780. And if it was 'found' in 1780 then maybe it was made earlier.
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1745 document with the name of Clownestanegill (a rill) by Gribdae burn
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_New_Statistical_Account_of_Scotland/9uk1AAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gribdae+farm+kirkcudbright&pg=RA2-PA5&printsec=frontcover
It was Clownestanegill the OS people had come to find in 1850 according to this
https://www.thenorthernantiquarian.org/2021/03/10/bombie/
and William Bell who told them about the stones.
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swedish speaker here: "grinding paint" (pigments) is the right translation here
Kerstin from Sweden
Thank you Kerstin. Much appreciated.
I've been thinking about this paint grinding. I wonder if it might have been used for grinding pigment for painting items/cups/vessels of glass - actually done at the glassworks.
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I'm a bit confused about the sugar and salt petre mixing using the same implement but then I'm not a chemist.
I believe those two ingredients mixed in the correct proportions are explosive (but I’m not googling it to check).
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yes did wonder ;D - because I think I read somewhere in a report about Kirkcudbright in Scotland a phrase something like ' everyone had guns then'. I just can't remember where I read that and what time period it was referring to. So I did wonder if it might refer to that - I know nothing about this so no idea but thought perhaps it was something everyone did at the time :o.
I think it might have been when I thought the donor was referring to William Bell snr and so would have been early 1800s. However if William Junior was the one who in 1881 said his dad used it for mixing saltpetre and sugar, then he was talking mid 1800. He was born 1845 and his dad died 1861. Mr Hamilton casually threw the information in to his letter that it was knocking about the farm and his dad used it for mixing the two.
There was another black glass one for sale here - also with what appears to be damaged top.
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/18th-century-black-glass-linen-275965599
They all have what appears to be damaged tops. I think it must be where they were snapped off the pontil rod.
There are two in the York Museums Trust. One appears to have a flattish top (snapped of pontil mark?) but a more rounded top as though it hasn't been damaged at all
https://www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/collections/search/item/?id=45001532&search_query=bGltaXQ9MTYmQ0wlNUIwJTVEPVNvY2lhbCtIaXN0b3J5
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A publication from 1896 where on page 96 there is a discussion about box irons etc to use for smoothing linen. The writer says the box iron is as old as at least 1746.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Notes_and_Queries/AiX4qzn9i0MC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=sleek-stone&pg=PA96&printsec=frontcover
Obviously I appreciate there will have been timeline crossovers of implements etc. and that because a new one begins it doesn't mean an old automatically ends.
There is also mention of sleek stones but no real descriptions of what they look like (i.e. handled v not)
Ekimp - if you (or anyone is still reading my ramblings :-[ ) the question I'd remembered was actually from the Warrington Museum saying they had a piece with the appearance of a 'claim' to be a sleek stone dated 1607. Author said it weighed 25 1/2 pounds and wondered if there were others around.
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Possibly another tenuous link however I decided to look at 18th century black glass bottles to see if I could see a link and quite bizarrely the second link I clicked on as an 'ooh that looks vaguely similar' mentioned Kirkcudbright!
Bonhams description says (my bolding):
Quote
'A sealed onion wine bottle, dated 1745
Of dark-green tint, the compressed globular form with a short tapering neck applied with a wide string rim, applied on the shoulder with a moulded seal inscribed 'W Stinton 1745' within a circular solid-line border, kick-in base, 18.5cm high, 16cm diameter (small chip to seal)
Footnotes
Another example of this rare bottle with an identical seal is recorded by David Burton, Antique Sealed Bottles, Vol. 2 (2015), p. 626 with a note that it was discovered in an antique shop in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland (see British Bottle Review no. 34 (1987), p. 25). This or possibly another specimen is illustrated by Willy van den Bossche, Antique Glass Bottles (2001), p. 94, pl. 42. Burton notes that the date 1745 is unusually late for an onion shaped bottle.'
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/22839/lot/22/a-sealed-onion-wine-bottle-dated-1745/
The thing is my 'linen smoother' is completely very shiny black, not even a hint of green/olive green to the eye. I had to get someone else to hold it over and close to/right on the bulb of a very strong light to get that smallest part of show through to photograph. I know it's solid v a sealed glass bottle but that bottle is double walled to the eye and described as 'dark green tint'. My linen smoother couldn't be described as dark green tint at all.
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http://www.kirkcudbright.co/kirkcudbright/lands.asp
John Bell, the second son, succeeded to Gribdae. Whom he married is not mentioned. He had issue, five sons and five daughters. The two eldest sons were-
John, died in infancy.
William, born in 1780.
'The latter succeeded on the death of his father in 1835. He had issue-
William, born in 1846.
John, born in 1848.
He purchased, in 1857, Castlecreavie, parish of Rerwick. He died in 1861, leaving Gribdae to his eldest son William, and Castlecreavie to his son John.
William married, in June 1877, Catherine Ireland, second daughter of R. M'C. Gordon of Rattra, parish of Borgue.
Gribdae seems to us to be a corruption of the Cymric or Welsh word gwerydre, for cultivated land.'
I'm just adding this here for my reference because I couldn't find a record on the family search type thing of William Snr having a son William born 1846. There only seemed to be a record of the son John born 1848.
RE the use of the handled linen smoothers I can't find any documentary primary source evidence so far. Nothing in the old 'how to conduct your life' type of publications etc and no pictures/oil paintings/engravings etc.
There is the very early mention of the slick stone murder in Surrey but it doesn't describe what the slick stone was made of or whether it had a handle.
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Now that you’ve drawn attention to it, the ones without a handle make more sense to me as a potential linen smoother. You could apply pressure by pressing down with your weight through the palm, so would it need to be really heavy? The handle position isn’t very ergonomically positioned for heavy work either, can you imagine how awkward it would be using a modern iron with a vertical handle? Also it doesn’t seem practical to have a convex bottom on a large heavy smoother, if that’s what it was, it would be difficult to control if it wobbled around. I can see a small one with handle might be useful for collars or other details.
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Hmmm -
Apparently in the 1780s a Druidical temple of stones was broken up to build a bridge nearby Gribdae.
In the 1850s a Mr Bell of Balgreddan told the Ordinance Survey people of this:
https://www.thenorthernantiquarian.org/2021/03/10/bombie/
William Bell senior may have told William Bell F.S.A. his son, of this story and it has been misremembered by William Bell the son, or misinterpreted between him and Hamilton when reporting the story.
So ... IF the story is true of some kind of 'cairn of stones' being found, perhaps that was Hamilton's interpretation of the story of the group of big Druidical stones being moved. That could mean the black handled 'linen-smoother' donated by Bell was found when THAT move of Druidical stones happened so perhaps that takes it back to 1780 ish of the find.
And given it was found when the Druidical temple was broken up - I wonder if it was buried and somehow linked to the building of the Druidical temple stones in some way?
Off to look up Druidical temples :o
Druidical temple example/info here:
https://bathgatehills.co.uk/cromlech-or-remains-of-druids-temple/
Having read this about druidical temples, it could just be that a heap of big stones were moved from one place to another in 1780 to make a drain. The reading of Hamilton has made a possible link to them being viking grave/burial possibly, but it could just be that they were a heap of stones. Still it could take the Gribdae 'linen-smoother' article back to 1780. And if it was 'found' in 1780 then maybe it was made earlier.
This is a link to the Ordinance Surveyhandwritten information of 1848-1851 describing Buckland Burn and the link with Gribdae and Balgreddon Burn.
https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/kirkcudbrightshire-os-name-books-1848-1851/kirkcudbrightshire-volume-154/5
I wonder if this IS the stone moving/drain building episode William Bell Jnr had reported to Hamilton. It could be the story passed down to him from William Bell Snr, who obviously discussed it with the Ordinance Survey people in 1850 ish. It could be that William Jnr had garbled the story in memory. So I think it could be considered a possibility that the handled Gribdae item or linen-smoother was found during that time of those stones being moved i.e 1780s.
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Now that you’ve drawn attention to it, the ones without a handle make more sense to me as a potential linen smoother. You could apply pressure by pressing down with your weight through the palm, so would it need to be really heavy? The handle position isn’t very ergonomically positioned for heavy work either, can you imagine how awkward it would be using a modern iron with a vertical handle? Also it doesn’t seem practical to have a convex bottom on a large heavy smoother, if that’s what it was, it would be difficult to control if it wobbled around. I can see a small one with handle might be useful for collars or other details.
Yes I have been thinking about actually using these that way as well, and the pressure as you say and I concur. I just cannot see it.
Also, I've been searching and searching and from what I read (online, not a researcher, just trying to find information and get a feeling for the times) I can't imagine the masses ironing their linen. So if anything was used to smooth small articles like collars etc then I suspect they would have been used in big houses for the rich.
I am beginning to wonder if they were used for leather working of some sort. Maybe to do with riding or perhaps shoes? I don't know - just thinking outloud.
The only mention of early 1700s I could find for use of a glass mortar and pestle (did not say how big the pestle was or what shape) was the mixing of ingredients trying to make Quicksilver ( a dangerous thing to be doing at the time as I know from reading about silvering mirrors). And I think that Alchemist/Chemist was in Amsterdam from what I read (original text 1745 I think).
I don't think he'd have been using a glass pestle anywhere near as big as 10cm across and weighing around a kg I'm guessing for mine. Might be less but it's heavy:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Philosophical_Transactions_and_Colle/er2zqe1GgAAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=glass+pestle+1700&pg=PA720&printsec=frontcover
Also mine and some others are black glass. The Woodchester Glass House seemed to be making transparent glass so I wonder where the glass for the black glass handled 'linen-smoother' came from?
What made me think about that is there is a some information about the fact that the medieval ones came from Melle in France. I didn't totally understand the research but I think they might have been made with slag from ore processing or something.
They have been chemically analysed.
That made me think hence looking up the black onion shaped bottles. But again I couldn't find any that really reminded me of my handled object. Even the lucky find of the one in Bonhams looks green.
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Yes I have been ...
Also, I've been searching and searching and from what I read (online, not a researcher, just trying to find information and get a feeling for the times) I can't imagine the masses ironing their linen. So if anything was used to smooth small articles like collars etc then I suspect they would have been used in big houses for the rich.
See page 25 and 26 and 27 under the Chapter heading 'Population' for a description of life for the population of Kirkcudbright around 1692.
Out-take quote:
'The dress of this period was uncouth and homely, and in general neither men nor women wore shoes in the summer; shirts they scarcely knew.'
I didn't read that and think 'ooh, great place for a linen smoother'. I'm sure it was no different to anywhere else in the UK.
However it does state that at that time one noble family, and several persons of independent fortune live in the parish.
The report was written May 1843 and is a very detailed account of life in Kirkcudbright. Extremely interesting to read.
https://stataccscot.ed.ac.uk/data/pdfs/account2/StAS.2.4.1.P.Kirkcudbright.Kirkcudbright.pdf
Probably much interesting information I've not picked up on but two things struck me re the linen smoother implement:
I have read elsewhere that wool was loomed?/exported? from Kirkcudbright at one point.
There seems to have been much toing and froing to Liverpool at the period more contemporary to 1843 when the report was written.
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Mention of 'calender-glasses' book dated 1816 page 336
- in using them for paper making and refers to their use for linen - does not describe what the 'calender-glasses' look like though (and I think mine would just tear any paper given it's shape):
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Encyclopaedia_Londinensis/HnlPAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=glass+polisher+linen&pg=PA336&printsec=frontcover
Mentioned here in Oct 1805-Jan 1806 page 165 book dated 1806
-for printing ink patterns onto linen. Says the size must be applied then rubbed with a 'glass-polisher' then the ink pattern is printed onto that area. Does not describe what shape this 'glass-polisher' is though:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Philosophical_Magazine/jJ1XaArh7-cC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=linen+polisher&pg=RA1-PA165&printsec=frontcover
Neither described the shape of the glass implement and I can't imagine mine being used for either process without damaging the material. I can imagine a flat glass implement being used to do both.
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Mention of 'calender-glasses' book dated 1816 page 336
- in using them for paper making and refers to their use for linen - does not describe what the 'calender-glasses' look like though (and I think mine would just tear any paper given it's shape):
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Encyclopaedia_Londinensis/HnlPAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=glass+polisher+linen&pg=PA336&printsec=frontcover
Mentioned here in Oct 1805-Jan 1806 page 165 book dated 1806
-for printing ink patterns onto linen. Says the size must be applied then rubbed with a 'glass-polisher' then the ink pattern is printed onto that area. Does not describe what shape this 'glass-polisher' is though:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Philosophical_Magazine/jJ1XaArh7-cC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=linen+polisher&pg=RA1-PA165&printsec=frontcover
Neither described the shape of the glass implement and I can't imagine mine being used for either process without damaging the material. I can imagine a flat glass implement being used to do both.
I wonder if the 1816 book when referring to those used for 'linen' meant paper made of linen?
I wonder also if the book from 1805-1806 was discussing printing ink onto linen for book making?
This is an interesting and detailed explanation of the process of eighteenth century papermaking:
https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/researchers-in-museums/2017/07/21/adventures-in-eighteenth-century-papermaking/
A blog:
Adventures in Eighteenth-century Papermaking
By Hannah L Wills, on 21 July 2017
UCL
I cannot see that the curved base of the Gribdae implement or mine could be used for this process.
Very long read here but scroll to the end to the Chapter titled 'Finishing' and I can see a stone being used as a glazing implement but nothing resembling the handled Gribdae implement.
https://paper.lib.uiowa.edu/european.php
And here (mid 1700s era) talk of plates used for glazing paper - nothing remotely so simple as a stone or like a Gribdae implement
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Papermaking_in_Britain_1488_1988/Zn5qCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=paper+glazing+hammer&pg=PA62&printsec=frontcover
Perhaps the word 'glasses' meant glazing or glazers rather than an implement of glass?
I don't think there is evidence so far of the handled implements being used in the process of making linen paper.
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Scotland in Pagan Times - Joseph Anderson, LL.D. (Keeper of the National Museum of the Antiquaries of Scotland)
The Rhind lectures in archeology for 1881:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Scotland_in_Pagan_Times/9lgJAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=norway+linen+smoother&pg=PR13&printsec=frontcover
Pages 36 and 37 give a long description of the lady from Caithness' linen smoother and the linen smoother found in a grave (both non handled)
He says
'Its purpose is demonstrated by the facts recorded by Nicholaysen and Lorange , who state that in Mandal Amt and in several remote districts on the west coast of Norway, the women still use them for giving a gloss to their white linen caps, and generally for getting up a gloss on linen by friction'.
I don't know who Nicholaysen and Lorange were so I'm not sure when their comments were made that he refers to but the implication is that it was fairly contemporary to his writing. Obviously this was about the ones without handles.
It could be he is referring to Nicholaysen's 'Norske Fornlevninger' Christiania 1866
and
'Samlungen af Norske Oldsager i Bergen's museum', ved A. Lorang. Bergen 1876
which are both mentioned here - also 1881 Joseph Anderson,'Scotland in Early Christian Times' second series.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Scotland_in_Early_Christian_Times/kLVNAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Nicolaysen+and+Lorange+mandal+amt&printsec=frontcover
There is more information in the smaller text about his comments on the one from Caithness being remembered and then found in the lady's house, and he more or less says that this brought information to light in living memory but commented on how it demonstrates how quickly use of old implements could be forgotten.
He seems to say hers is 'modern' although it looks just like the viking find one. Perhaps he says modern because it was found in her house and used in living memory.
He goes on to say 'The placing of this specimen (of the modern type) in the museum has brought to light other three specimens of modern calendaring implements of glass. They are of larger size and furnished with handles, which are also of glass'.
Therefore this link to the lecture gives a little more detail than before especially since three with handles have appeared. Presumably the one from Gribdae Farm but perhaps the other two are the ones from the Museum of London?
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I have also found the early settler Jamestowne information where they found ten of the handled implements with four being found in what they think was the first well dug there c.
https://historicjamestowne.org/collections/artifacts/linen-smoother/?srsltid=AfmBOorw8xQu9bSU4ezclXM_fsdlQPb40LuBSGiLnGxde8lOk3foYKQX
Of the black handled implements similar in shape and construction to mine, so far I think we have:
1 from Gribdae in the Stewartry Museum
2 (or 1? couldn't find 2 when I looked) in the Museum of London
1 in the Science Museum London (they have it listed as 19th century?)
2 from museum in Wales seen on the Glassmakers site
10 at Jamestowne (dated 1608-1610) - settlers from England.
1 seen on Worthpoint - linked on this thread
1 - dark green glass Bonhams dated c. 1650
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25846/lot/792/a-dark-green-glass-linen-smoother-british-circa-1650/
1 x Mine
1 x other on this thread
1 that looks slightly different in shape and colour also Bonhams c.1750
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25846/the-brookwell-collection-of-smoothing-implements/?page=9
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I found the two pictured in the Museum of London - dated c.1700 however they seem to have many more but no pictures. Apparently 28 items but some are listed as handles and some as heads. They all seem to be quite early on their dating but no pictures to compare apart from two and one broken one with part handle.
for the 10 linen smoothers found at Jamestowne (4 discarded in what I think was referred to as the First Well)
there were not that many women who made it to Jamestowne (note- was linen glossing solely womens' work?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jamestown_colonists
More than ten women ( I lost count ) were on the various arrivals of boats. Many appear to be the wives of the men. I could see a few maidservants but I don't think 10.
That's quite a lot of linen smoothers. Perhaps each wife carried her own? That's if they were all contemporary to the settlers rather than later items discarded at the site.
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for the 10 linen smoothers found at Jamestowne (4 discarded in what I think was referred to as the First Well)
there were not that many women who made it to Jamestowne (note- was linen glossing solely womens' work?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jamestown_colonists
More than ten women ( I lost count ) were on the various arrivals of boats. Many appear to be the wives of the men. I could see a few maidservants but I don't think 10.
That's quite a lot of linen smoothers. Perhaps each wife carried her own? That's if they were all contemporary to the settlers rather than later items discarded at the site.
I've tried to count up again and there were more than 10 women who arrived in total but not that many more. Perhaps 5 listed as servant.
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1805 discussion on glossing linen. - The Nature of Things by John Mason Good
Translation of latin poem
page 158 - talks about glossing linen and using presses. No mention of a glass implement when referring to the past or the present.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Nature_of_Things/yYjcEGiBLcIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=glossing+linen&pg=PA158&printsec=frontcover
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1883
Journal of the British Archaeological Association
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Journal_of_the_British_Archaeologica/oeRAgKIO-qYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=illustrated+archaeologist+linen+smoother&pg=PA332&printsec=frontcover
Page 332 - a few pages earlier mentions Joseph Anderson's Rhind lectures re the linen smoother with no handle found in viking graves but also says:
'Similar implements were in use in Scotland ... smoothing linen; and they were employed also in the straw-plaiting industry in Bedfordshire for flattening the plaits'.
Straw plaiting info - from 1725:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_World_s_Commercial_Products/tqMm7FPJyEgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=straw-plaiting+industry+flattening+plaits&pg=PA150&printsec=frontcover
page 150
1844 description of using hot iron for flattening seams in straw hats - page 161:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Useful_Arts_Employed_in_the_Producti/pTtkAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=smoothing+flat+plaits+straw&pg=PA161&printsec=frontcover
Here from 1826 page 428 the flattening of plaits is described as being done with a 'small hand mill':
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/An_Account_of_the_Results_of_Experiments/iC_itEA32qkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=straw+plait+flattening&pg=PA428&printsec=frontcover
Here from 1830 page 231 - though it mentions using a bone or ivory polisher:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Gill_s_technological_afterw_Gill_s_scien/n0YEAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=straw+plait+flattening&pg=PA231&printsec=frontcover
Flattening a straw by 'rubbing it forcibly with a polisher on its bright side' and 'whilst it is laid upon a strong and smooth plank of apple tree':
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Gill_s_technological_afterw_Gill_s_scien/n0YEAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=straw+plait+flattening&pg=PA231&printsec=frontcover
It does however go on to talk about flattening plaits.
Flat plaits here:
https://www.strawcraftsmen.co.uk/project10.php
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The only link I could find to Kirkcudbright was 1750 when they were plaiting straw to make horses' collars. Though itt doesn't say they flattened the plaits :
'The implements of the time were of the rudest description. The roots of the all-prevailing whin formed the teeth of the harrows; these had to be taken home every evening to be sharpened and hardened in the fire. For the plough chains they took the skin of any of their horses that died, cut it into stripes, and tanned them; these were called "strekins." Their horses’ collars were manufactured by plaiting straw, usually done in the evenings by some of themselves. Thus they had a very cheap harnessing for their horses or bullocks—six of the latter and two of the former being common in one plough in 1750.[/b]'
http://www.kirkcudbright.co/historyarticle.asp?ID=53&p=29&g=5
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Scotland in Pagan Times - Joseph Anderson, LL.D. (Keeper of the National Museum of the Antiquaries of Scotland)
The Rhind lectures in archeology for 1881:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Scotland_in_Pagan_Times/9lgJAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=norway+linen+smoother&pg=PR13&printsec=frontcover
Pages 36 and 37 give a long description of the lady from Caithness' linen smoother and the linen smoother found in a grave (both non handled)
He says
'Its purpose is demonstrated by the facts recorded by Nicholaysen and Lorange , who state that in Mandal Amt and in several remote districts on the west coast of Norway, the women still use them for giving a gloss to their white linen caps, and generally for getting up a gloss on linen by friction'.
I don't know who Nicholaysen and Lorange were so I'm not sure when their comments were made that he refers to but the implication is that it was fairly contemporary to his writing. Obviously this was about the ones without handles.
It could be he is referring to Nicholaysen's 'Norske Fornlevninger' Christiania 1866
and
'Samlungen af Norske Oldsager i Bergen's museum', ved A. Lorang. Bergen 1876
which are both mentioned here - also 1881 Joseph Anderson,'Scotland in Early Christian Times' second series.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Scotland_in_Early_Christian_Times/kLVNAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Nicolaysen+and+Lorange+mandal+amt&printsec=frontcover
There is more information in the smaller text about his comments on the one from Caithness being remembered and then found in the lady's house, and he more or less says that this brought information to light in living memory but commented on how it demonstrates how quickly use of old implements could be forgotten.
He seems to say hers is 'modern' although it looks just like the viking find one. Perhaps he says modern because it was found in her house and used in living memory.
He goes on to say 'The placing of this specimen (of the modern type) in the museum has brought to light other three specimens of modern calendaring implements of glass. They are of larger size and furnished with handles, which are also of glass'.
Therefore this link to the lecture gives a little more detail than before especially since three with handles have appeared. Presumably the one from Gribdae Farm but perhaps the other two are the ones from the Museum of London?
The two extra linen smoothers with handles (in addition to the Gribdae farm handled smoother) were:
1 x given by J. Romilly Allen 1881, 5 1/2"diameter with handle 7 1/2" long
1 x from St Michael's Inn, Fifeshire - James Waddell 1881 , 5" diameter with handle 7 3/4" long
Source: page 326 items 133 and 134, from Catalogue of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland 1892
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Catalogue_of_the_National_Museum_of_Anti/aZgodjaHjUwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=linen+smoother+handle&pg=PA326&printsec=frontcover
J. Romilly Allen was John Romilly Allen:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Romilly_Allen#:~:text=Having%20begun%20with%20the%20antiquities,in%20the%20University%20of%20Edinburgh.
I think the letter from Hamilton from Stewartry Museum a year or two earlier re the handled one from Gribdae Farm, brought these two additional items into the open.
So I think not the ones in the Museum of London as I mused in my earlier post.
All three seem to have Scotland as source.
Mine also came from Scotland.
There is the smoother found at the Woodchester site with handle.
1 - dark green glass Bonhams dated c. 1650 - recovered from River Thames.
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25846/lot/792/a-dark-green-glass-linen-smoother-british-circa-1650/
A number in the Museum of London in parts (heads and handles), and 2 x whole.
Jamestowne excavation x 10.
1 in the Science Museum London (they have it listed as 19th century?)
2 from museum in Wales seen on the Glassmakers site
1 seen on Worthpoint - linked on this thread
1 x other on this thread
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Dating it.
English glass tax was levied on weight in 1745 and abolished in 1845.
If you were paying tax by weight, you wouldn't produce something as heavy as this unless it was of vital use for some purpose would you?
In 1500s they used poking sticks (iron heated in fire) to pleat the ruffs. So heating iron to smooth material was already known.
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1 found in Winchester here - broken handle with bottom part of handle showing, base mushroom head is quite thin compared to mine.
https://collections.hampshireculture.org.uk/object/glass-linen-smoother-br87-88-brooks-middle-brook-street-winchester-hampshire-excavated-m
2 found in Norfolk in the early 21st century - one in a garden, one in a potato grader (handle broken off)
https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF56180-Post-medieval-linen-smoother&Index=10&RecordCount=12&SessionID=ca1b980f-fcb2-4493-84b2-c2b1cf7943ab
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page 206 publication from 1823
A New System of Practical and Domestic Economy; 3rd edition, printed by S&R Bentley.
Chintz and muslin should 'not be submitted to the operation of the smoothing-iron, but rubbed smooth with a polishing stone'.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_New_System_of_Practical_Domestic_Econo/ifdAAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=smooth+the+linen&pg=PA206&printsec=frontcover
Doesn't talk about handled linen smoothers but does mention a 'polishing stone'. The 'smoothing-iron' refers to a heated iron implement as discussed further down the page.
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Could they have been used for grinding fuller's earth? used in cleaning wool.
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I had a good read on fulling and fulling mills from Wikipedia, quite interesting. One sentence stood out to me about the fulling mills and process as given from Wikipedia ""However, the cloth was taken out about every 2 hours to undo plaits and wrinkles ".Wikipedia does not elaborate further. Smoothers of a certain type might come in handy in that part of the process.
The rounded or mushroom shape would make an excellent grinder in conjunction with a bowl. As we are dealing with two different types [ flat and rounded ], Two different jobs to be done?
The assumption is they were used in a fist like grasp for some serious pressure to be applied and rightly so I think. The one I sketched from the Knophs book with the thumb rest at top almost proves the point, it is of the flat type. Where as the one from my collection if complete a bit different, more easily grasped by forefinger and thumb around the extension and thus palmed. More for delicate work?
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Thanks :)
I suppose I was just thinking around what materials would have been most commonly used for wearing in cold wet dark UK hundreds of years ago. Wool seemed to me to be the most likely, so I was wondering whether they might have been used in the process of making wool rather than linen.
It's actually hard to find any references to 'smoothing' (with the exception of the use of the ones without handles - i.e the Scotland Antiquaries references and the mention of use in some parts of Norway for smoothing bonnets) using something like this with the handle when looking at older texts. Most of the references I read to these handled items seems a bit vague on whether they were actually used for linen at all, possibly because of lack of proof?
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Potash kilns were used for making Lye used to clean wools:
https://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/a-z-of-industries/potash-kilns/
Potash also used in glassmaking?
Perhaps there might be a connection? Where there were glass kilns there was potash perhaps indicating a link to the woolen industry? So the local glass maker more likely to make implements helpful to processing wool in the local area - if the handled implement was for wool processing of some sort.
Tenuous I know ;D
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Potash also used on potato fields and I read it was made into, or was sold, in balls.
Could these implements have been used for grinding potash? to be used for various reasons such as Wool lye making, potato growing?
Did they take 10 to Jamestowne expecting to have sheep and make their own wool, or grow their own potatoes?
m
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making blue dye for linen and woollens:
The Family Receipt Book - not sure what year but one I've linked right at the bottom is dated 1811
page 526 and 527
'Grind it with a pestle or iron ball, until it becomes soft as pap'
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Family_Receipt_book_Or_Universal_Rep/B28KAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=grinding+potash+balls+wool&pg=PA527&printsec=frontcover
I can't imagine a small thin pestle would be used looking at the preceding information on the process.
Perhaps this handled 'linen smoother' was the type of pestle used?
1811 dated version
https://archive.org/details/b21526345/page/n3/mode/2up
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Potash also used on potato fields and I read it was made into, or was sold, in balls.
Could these implements have been used for grinding potash? to be used for various reasons such as Wool lye making, potato growing?
Did they take 10 to Jamestowne expecting to have sheep and make their own wool, or grow their own potatoes?
m
Hmmm, no. It was Fuller's earth that I think I read was sold in balls.
And I think the pestle for the previous post must have been a metal if they recommended an iron ball alternative.
No evidence so far for handled glass pestles of these sizes being used for anything at all. Weird.
m
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Maybe a Marunnu Kallu.
https://waytoearth.com/product/natural-stone-marunnu-kallukalvambig-size-round-mortal-and-pestle-ural-okhli-masher-khal-dasta-ural-set-khalbatta-okhli-spice-grinder-perungaya-kal-herbs-spice-masher-khal-musal/
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oooh thank you. So - possibly - something that might have been used by chemists/alchemists in days of yore for reducing large size quantities of edible somethings to saleable/useable quantities? (or mercury, mentioned in that link you gave, which is a scary thought).
They seem to only have been found in England and Scotland so far as I can see (iirc!) plus those that were found in the well in Jamestowne.
Thanks so much. Something else to investigate in down-time :)
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This is a short article about sugar loaves.
https://susanaellisauthor.blog/tag/sugar-in-the-regency-period/
To get it in powder or granular form it was pounded with a mortar and pestle. The sugar lumps (large from the sugar cone) were extremely hard. I can't think that pounding it with a tiny thin pestle (as I commonly think of the shape of a pestle) even if it was brass, would have been sufficient or expedient. I wonder if they were used for home use for grinding sugar 'lumps'?
Or something for grinding salt but I don't know whether salt needed grinding?
Or linked to tobacco in some way?
These are the things that spring to mind.
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Maybe a Marunnu Kallu.
I had a search for this as there was a modern pottery pestle in a linen smoother shape with a small flat mortar in a charity shop. It was a studio pottery type thing. The ones made out of stone or pot would have more bite than smooth glass so maybe better for grinding than glass. Perhaps glass could be used more for crushing than grinding.
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going back to the info about it being found on Gribdae farm and that his dad used it to grind saltpetre and sugar, recent book called Chemistry of Fireworks by Michael S Russell (copyrighted) mention that in the Middle Ages the emerging gunpowder industry used mortars and pestles to 'do the mixing'. Obviously not suggesting my pestle is Middle Ages, but the mention is interesting.
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Different information here on the use of potassium nitrate in glassmaking including that it was stored along the banks of the Thames:
From source: David Watts, History of Glassmaking in London
http://www.glassmaking-in-london.co.uk/limeandlead#:~:text=But%20there%20is%20no%20question,English%20glassmakers%20from%20Mansell's%20day.
Still curious as to why these were found at Jamestown in such quantities.
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I wonder could these have been used for grinding tobacco into snuff powder?
Tobacco seems to feature quite heavily in something I'm reading about Jamestown. A thesis from someone.
Would tobacco be ground fairly finely to make snuff? (caveat - I've no idea about pipe tobacco or snuff).
m
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painting Jacob Duck 17th century De Strijkster (the ironer) in a kitchen - enlarge it and the iron is iron shaped but small. That's 17th century.
No sign of a glass muller/large pestle for ironing.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_strijkster_Centraal_Museum_6923.jpg
Picture of 'linen smoother' from Jamestown dated 1608-1610
https://historicjamestowne.org/collections/artifacts/linen-smoother/
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Interesting old article (1993 then supplemented in 2011) by a Dutch author/collector, who poses the same questions I have in this thread. Namely, where is the evidence these 'linen smoothers' with handles were used for ironing:
https://www.oudekerstversiering.nl/history/glas/strijken.htm
I could have just found this article first and linked it - whole thread unnecessary :)
m
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Book source for linen smoothers with handles:
Martin Biddle - Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Object_and_Economy_in_Medieval_Wincheste/KRdVEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=linen+smoother+charleston&pg=PA240&printsec=frontcover
See page 240 and onto page 241 Chapter viii - Slickstones, R.J. Charleston
'In the sixteenth century these smoothers seem to have acquired a vertical handle, giving them a mushroom shape, and they were certainly made in England at a number of glasshouses. 5.'
Note 5. gives 4 place sources for these including Woodchester (Glos): Daniels 1950, 9-10, Pls 3 and 4.
Earlier in the chapter it talks about slickstones being used in Scandinavia up to the 19th century. To me this, and other evidence (e.g. the conversation in Scotland taking place at the end 19th century re the slickstone being in the old household) seems to refer to those without handles.
I can't find any sources that demonstrate slickstones with handles were being used that late on (19th century), or at any point used as linen smoothers at all actually.