Posted 8 years ago
btdt52
(4 items)
Two new pics. Check the heavy duty wrapped door puller. And it seems some of the verdigris is green paint.... I've always gone with'fish trap' so that's my metal fish.
This beautiful work of art seems to be made of copper or brass wire as there is some verdigris in places. It is 13" high and features a double set of sliding doors and a wooden disc in the center of the bottom. I want it to be a fish trap but wouldn't the wood keep it afloat? It is quite heavy though. Crabs? Thanks for your thoughts.
i really love these old rat traps! when i was a kid, i remembered seeing some really cool ones at Enfield Shaker Village - near where i grew up.
Crawdads?
It's weighted in the bottom with a bait plate - I think it's for water trapping? I'm guessing crawdaddy trap. (Crawfish)
A rat could get back out that little door there. The antique wire rat traps online are much more complicated!
Bonus point for "verdigris".
I can't imagine anything small enough to go into such a confined space that couldn't get out the holes at the bottom; crayfish, rats, etc. And I doubt the big fish would go in in the first place. Also, fish & crab traps have a funnel entrance that the prey can enter but have a hard time finder their way back out of, not a sliding door. Are you sure it isn't a bird cage? Does the wooden piece look like it has been under water a lot?
Thanks, all! The fact that you have to open and close both sliding doors seems to rule out rats to me, too. Aren't folks usually trying to kill them? I wouldn't want to get that close to a live one! But Uncle Ron asks about water wear and there isn't any! There are actually faint but visible knife marks where it was rounded up. So the fishing/crabbing idea doesn't work very well either. As for birds....there is no place for a dish or a swing and it could fly out the bottom easily if lifted. Keep thinking? :-)
Bird poop would go right thru the bottom!
Take a pic with the door closed, and one of the bottom underside. Try to keep them in focus.
Was it to dry something? Put something on the wood plate and hang somewhere to dry?
Oh, totally! Hadn't even thought of that...... Or maybe that's what they wanted and this was a monkey carrier for when you were in the jungle? Mmmm, no.
It COULD be an antique beehive bird cage - missing the bottom plate?
A falconer's cage?
They would have had to insert all those wires into the wood disk before attaching to the cage...
So there's a door-within-a-door. To select the size of the opening depending on what's going in (or out). I still vote for a bird cage. Maybe with something missing from the bottom, something that covered the holes but was removable for cleaning(?) Attachments like swings and food/water cups are frequently missing from bird cages I see at auctions.
Thanks, all! I really like the idea of a falconer's cage because it's a heavy travel-worthy piece but there's nothing indicating the bird could perch comfortably. The wooden block is 5" wide and 1" thick. The smaller 2 wire door is just barely big enough for my small hand - just for feeding, I'd guess?