Posted 4 years ago
hotairfan
(388 items)
Here's a tool that I picked up at an antique extravaganza today. The seller insisted that it was a Barber's tool to hang on the barber chair and it held the razor strops. I somewhat have my doubts though. It could be, but I hope that someone can agree with certainty that it is truly a barber's tool or, if not, maybe someone can tell me it's actual use.
Description as follows: I believe it to be steel, under the plating, because it shows a little rust coming thru...... It's about 9" tall and 5" wide. It's nickel plates...... The hooked parts at the bottom are pinned so they swivel sideways
as shown in the photos, the front has the three words cast in place - strength - vigor - power.
The rear has three words cast in place - health - vim - pep.
Unless I hear differently, I guess it is a barber's strop holder as the seller insisted.
Any input is appreciated.
I don't know..the strop I have is 24" long, I'm sure they made different sizes, mine has its own hanger clip attached.
Your piece is double sided, so doesn't seem practical to hang on a chair? And the words seems odd for a barber shop?
Now I want to know what it is
Looks Masonic.
hotairfan, Very cool. :-)
Somebody else had one, didn't know what it was, brought it to an antique forum for help, and somebody started examining that emblem in the middle:
*snip*
I see one more letter that Michael missed. In the center is a small "o". Since it's inside the "C" I assume it stands for "Co.", or Company. There are numerous AHDCo. online, but nothing comes up with the motto.
Since the highest letter is A, then 2nd highest is H, then D, with C being the shortest, I suggested AHD Co. but it could be something else.
Permalink Reply by Michael on March 7, 2018 at 9:12pm
Good possibility Tom, I had kind of dismissed the small centre oval, assuming it to be a decorative element giving the overall C look like an eye, I never thought of it being Co, for company. I like that possibility.
*snip*
https://iantiqueonline.ning.com/group/whadjafind/forum/topics/need-help-with-identification
Here's another that the purveyor speculated might have been some kind of exercise equipment (which would make sense in terms of that "STRENGTH VIGOR POWER HEALTH VIM PEP" lingo embossed on it):
https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/902604009/health-vim-pep-strength-vigor-power
It's possible that the loop on the top could be fastened to something stationary, and the hooks on the bottom could hold springs to pull for exercise, not exactly like this, but something similar:
https://etc.usf.edu/clipart/15400/15438/whtlyexercis_15438.htm
There’s this too on the net ...
“smutketeer
250d
Poking around Google books indicates that a company called A.H. Lewis used the words "vim pep vigor" in their advertising in the 1920s to promote their Nature's Remedy pills.
Is it possible the center design is the letters A H L C or some similar combination?
If that's the case I would suggest that this item was given to druggists and was somehow involved in the display of AH Lewis products, most likely the Nature's Remedy pills.
Any experts on early 20th century patent medicines care to weigh in? I'm so far out on a limb here I can see my house.”
Perhaps I should have said cables instead of springs, but it does seem like it could have been an element of some vintage exercise equipment
With regard to what vetraio50 said about it looking masonic, that was my first impression as well.
That one component of the emblem that the antique forum people thought might be a "C" character did remind me a bit of the all-seeing eye.
However, there was something else nagging at the back of my brain about the emblem. Apparently for me, all roads lead to Singer, because it turned out to be the Singer decal on a model 29:
http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/images/29k43.jpg
Oh well. What it does suggest is that this item might be a contemporary of the Singer model 29. ISMACS says the model 29 first came out in 1877, but the oldest one I could find in the serial number tables was from 1900. That kind of makes sense, because the serial number tables don't have any model number information for pre-1900 machines.
Anyway, the emblem on this thing strikes me as being 1900-ish.
vetraio50, I saw that on Reddit dot com, but got distracted by the link to the antique forum. I did briefly look at content for A. H. Lewis, but no joy thus far.
You guys are great in following up leads. I compared the Singer photo with the emblem that keramikos entered. There is a definite large "S" in the middle of the Singer decal. I can't see this "S" in the questionable emblem. Could it me that decals changed as models changed? I don't know. All I do know is all of you would make good private detectives. You seen to follow up any and all leads. I thank you all for your help. Perhaps I will never know for sure.
hotairfan, You're welcome. :-)
I think everybody who's commented on this intriguing item wants to see the mystery solved.
However, I think I should clarify something. When I brought up the Singer model 29 decal, I was only trying to point out the stylistic similarity.
Here's the Singer decal by itself so you can see it more clearly:
https://www.singerdecals.com/singer-29-long-arm-monogram-decals-for-restorations-2-color/
You can see how the designer cleverly interwove uppercase "S," "M," "C," and lowercase "o" characters to represent Singer Manufacturing Co(mpany).
At the antique forum, one of the users highlighted in red what they thought were all of the characters in the emblem on your mystery item.
A:
https://st11.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2766413512
H:
http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2766413587
D:
https://st12.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2766413764
C:
http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2766413641
Then another user pointed out that the little football-shaped design in the very center might be a lowercase character "o."
So the emblem might well be a clever interweaving of "A," "H," "D," "C," and "o" (AHD Co.).
It struck me that it wasn't the same, but stylistically similar to the Singer decal which I've only ever seen on that one model of Singer sewing machine (the industrial model 29).
Who knows? Perhaps one person designed them both, or the designer of one was inspired by the design of the other.
hotairfan, Just for grins, here is a 1903 patent for a razor strop holder (sorry about the USPTO listing, I couldn't seem to get Google Patents to cooperate):
https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=00739928&IDKey=9D11095BAA12%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fpatimg.htm
And here is a Worthpoint listing for a Retractable Strop Holder:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-ornate-silver-metal-shaving-1904659810
thanks a bunch fellows.... I really appreciate all of your research.
Not sure how to post a picture but I found this. It is part of a gym set that was made in New york.
Hi, Candydidnot, and welcome to CW :-)
The way to post pictures is to create a post of your own. You're allowed up to four pictures per post.
Once you've created a post with pictures, you can make a comment here or on your own post with a link to the other.
Mystery solved. https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/302949-gym-set?in=954-activity
Candydidnot, Thank you. :-)
So it is a component of an exercise device, and the correct order of those intertwined initials seen on the triangular piece would be HDAC (Health Dev. App. Co.).
Thank you very much for solving the mystery.
It's a bit curious that so many of those triangular pieces survived, but not the other components of the exercise device. Perhaps not, though. The artwork on the triangular piece makes it beautiful.
This is a bit of a tangent, but in the process of re-investigating this piece, I tripped on an apartment complex named Vim + Vigor. The name turned out to be associated with Pabst beer:
https://www.wisconsinarchitect.org/vim-vigor
https://milwaukeehistory.net/research/artifact-collections/brewery-collection/brewery-collection-advertisements/pabst-vim-vigor/