"Ten Cents for the Tinsmith"
lordmarcovan
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"Ten Cents for the Tinsmith"
Folk art carving on 1853 Seated Liberty dime
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Obverse: original Seated Liberty design, unaltered, with traces of solder from an old mount. Reverse: 19th century tradesman's tools, probably for tinsmithing. Ex- "lotsofmotts" (eBay), 7/18/2016.
Many thanks to the early respondents to this thread, who helped me identify these tools. I recognized the hammer at the bottom, of course, and the tin snips on the right. That appears to be a set of dividers on the left. That basketlike cylinder in the middle with the tray underneath it and the tool sticking into it is apparently a charcoal burner, which a tinsmith would swing around in the air when he needed to heat up the coals inside.
This interesting piece was rather modestly priced for a pictorial love token, and I suspect I only got to it because it was listed only in the eBay Seated dimes category. Had the seller also listed it under the love token category, somebody else would have probably snapped it up first.
Below: Illustration of tinsmithing tools and workshop from Diderot's Encyclopédie, ca. 1751-1772
Tinsmith (Wikipedia article)
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set
Folk art carving on 1853 Seated Liberty dime
Larger obverse picture
Larger reverse picture
Obverse: original Seated Liberty design, unaltered, with traces of solder from an old mount. Reverse: 19th century tradesman's tools, probably for tinsmithing. Ex- "lotsofmotts" (eBay), 7/18/2016.
Many thanks to the early respondents to this thread, who helped me identify these tools. I recognized the hammer at the bottom, of course, and the tin snips on the right. That appears to be a set of dividers on the left. That basketlike cylinder in the middle with the tray underneath it and the tool sticking into it is apparently a charcoal burner, which a tinsmith would swing around in the air when he needed to heat up the coals inside.
This interesting piece was rather modestly priced for a pictorial love token, and I suspect I only got to it because it was listed only in the eBay Seated dimes category. Had the seller also listed it under the love token category, somebody else would have probably snapped it up first.
Below: Illustration of tinsmithing tools and workshop from Diderot's Encyclopédie, ca. 1751-1772
Tinsmith (Wikipedia article)
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set
0
Comments
Nice find. I have been picking these up as they come in over the counter. Sometimes they even come in with melt from "dealers".
TD
I believe I read somewhere that some itinerant tinsmiths would, when they needed some intense heat for a short while, place some hot charcoal in a wire basket and swing it around their head to make them burn hotter.
TD
Cool! I'll research that. Thanks.
Jinx- do you ever get interesting pieces in the melt bucket scrap?
Diderot's on the Tinsmith
Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association
Cool whatever it is!
My YouTube Channel
I think those are good guesses, and it's great detail for a dime, but what about the bush on the obverse?
Tsk, tsk. 'Tis but a coal that flew out of the tinsmith's spinning basket and landed in Lady Liberty's lap. Fortunately it had cooled some, so it has not yet burned its way through her clothing and caused her to notice it.
Go wash your mind out with soap.
My YouTube Channel
I agree that they are probably whitesmith tools. Fire pot and soldering irons? This link may help:
Diderot's on the Tinsmith
Thanks. So it appears the item at left, which I took to be dividers (causing me some confusion), are actually a set of pincers (per Figure 28 in the Diderot diagram). Pincers with rather small jaws, it would seem, but that makes sense.
Then again, it still looks like a set of dividers to me...
U.S. Type Set
I believe I read somewhere that some itinerant tinsmiths would, when they needed some intense heat for a short while, place some hot charcoal in a wire basket and swing it around their head to make them burn hotter.
TD
Try doing that at a modern-day company and see how long it takes their safety officers to fire you. Three minutes maybe? My, how times have changed since the 19th century. Sometimes I wonder if we're better off now.
You might be interested in one of mine - butcher's tools on a half dollar:
Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association
Have seen a few with barbering implements, too.
By far my favorite trade-related love token I've seen was an 1880s dime with a dentistry scene on it. Not the implements, but a scene of the whole room- patient in chair, dentist leaning over him, furniture, everything- all exquisitely rendered in high detail. I bid on it but was blown out of the water by the competition. Still, I wish I'd saved a picture of that one. I guess it too could have been a barber-related item because I believe many barbers were still pulling teeth at the time. (Makes one shudder to think what that must've been like before local anesthetics. Imagine sitting in your barber's chair and having him give you a slug of whiskey before grabbing some plier-like tool and telling you to open wide!)
Thanks for sharing your finds.
"tooled" reverse
In every sense of the word! Good one!
Being from Iowa, I immediately saw a silo and surrounding cattle pen. I think the other guesses are more correct than mine after closer examination, but found it interesting that no one else mentioned seeing a silo.
"Silo and cattle pen" wouldn't automatically come to mind for someone living on the Georgia coast, but now that you mention it, I can see that association. But one would hope never to see giant tools floating around (and poking into!) one's silo!
I've never been to Iowa, but I've read almost everything Bill Bryson ever wrote. Does that count?