HELP!!!!   Where are the best (and most widely available) sources for
identifying opium smoking paraphrenalia(sp?).  Along with the famous
whitemetal douche syringes, in the privies of Fayette, we found a curious
little object.  It is cast, appears to be lead-based, but has a patina like
bronze.  The general shape is conical, with an opening ca. 1 centimeter
wide, and the surviving portion is about 3-4 cm long.  Frankly, it looks an
awful lot like a pencil sharpener, with a slot on the side of the cone for
the shavings to drop out.  But the metal is too soft; certainly too soft to
cut wood, but probably even too soft to hold a steel blade riveted into the
slot to do the cutting.
 
Why do I ask about opium gear?  Well, this gizmo has Chinese characters
cast into the surface.  We have determined that they are the old style
characters, and have some crude notions of a translation ( so crude that I
won't repeat them yet).  The item has prompted three people to say "opium"
and three to say " pencil sharpener", so you can imagine our dilemna!
Please help!  I will get someone to scan this baby and put it on our web
site next week, if that will help.
 
 
 
 
****************************************************************************
Patrick E. Martin, Associate Professor of Archaeology
Director of Graduate Studies in Industrial Archaeology
Editor of IA, Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology
Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, Michigan 49931-1295 USA
Telephone (906) 487-2070   Fax  (906) 487-2468   Internet  [log in to unmask]
****************************************************************************