Posted 10 years ago
Kydur
(103 items)
This item belonged to an elderly client who was downsizing from her big house and moving into a Senior's condo complex. Her children and relatives had gone through everything and taken what they wanted and she was practically giving away the stuff left behind.
I've seen these at various thrift stores and always presumed they were cheap reproductions, but this one appears to be authentic... or at least given that the person I purchased it from (for $3) had plenty of other authentic stuff from the same period that's what I'm basing my opinion on.
It has no maker marks but appears to be complete and not used much. The brush bristles are clean and show little signs of wear, although they are beginning to fall out. I think it was a very clever way to conceal an otherwise dirty tool and make it look like a brass ornament sitting next to the old fireplace.
A brush to keep by the fireplace..to sweep ashes back into the fire????
I am guessing you've never cleaned out a fireplace? A brush is just one of the standard fireplace tools, used for sweeping cold ash onto a shovel for disposal.
Ollie, noob is correct - you want to remove the ashes from the fireplace (or woodstove); it's a waste byproduct. This brush is relatively small (compared to those that come in fireplace tool sets) at 2.5" in diameter and 5" tall (not including the handle which is another 7".
This would probably be used to do the smaller tidy-up work and get into the tighter spaces that the large brush couldn't. Or maybe it was used as a fashionable Victorian woman's makeup brush!
My cousin used to have a large chalet in Switzerland, built in 1760 (carved and painted on its face). Aside from a massive and ornate, ceramic tile stove in the parlor and a wood-burning stove in the kitchen, there were small wood-burning cast iron stoves in other rooms, e.g. the larger bedrooms. Small implements were needed for the small stoves.