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Date: | Sat, 8 Aug 2015 11:33:06 -0600 |
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Right you are Smoke,
My grandmother, various great aunts and cousins all had darning eggs used to repair holey socks and stockings. The eggs were not toys and were not to be played with although I remember sneaking it out of Grandmother's sewing basket on occasion. While mostly made of wood, one of the great aunts had a simply glorious darning egg made of a large pigeon-egg sized chunk of amethyst that had been shaped and tumbled to satiny finish--I wonder whatever happened to that?
Dedie Snow
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Smoke
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2015 1:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Glass egg
I have seen lots of darn eggs but all of them have been wooden. The come in shape ranging from egg to ovoid with out the egg shape and may or may not have handles. Often the ones with handles were called "mushroom". The were common in late 1800s and early 1900s. My grandmother (born in the early 1880s) knitted a lot and had a lot of trouble with her grandchildren taking her 2 knitting and playing with as toys but she was very patient with us. I half remember that she said they were often given to girls as one of the items for their "Hope Chests", if anyone still remembers the term. This is the first I have heard of them be used to induce egg laying in chickens. I am also not familiar with those made of glass.
On Fri, Aug 7, 2015 at 1:08 PM, Keith Doms <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Hello,
> We recently discovered a blown milk glass egg. It
> appears to be a dummy egg that was used it encourage chickens to lay.
> My informants tell me that door knobs and darning eggs were also used.
> It comes from a midden that dates between 1880 and 1910. The little
> research I have been able to do has not answered the following
> questions. 1. When did they start making blown eggs? 2. How far did
> the practice of artificial eggs to induce laying go back? 3. Does
> anyone know of an advertisement for these things.
>
> Keith R. Doms
> Newlin Grist Mill
> Site Manager
> 219 S. Cheyney Rd.
> Glen Mills, PA 19342
> (610) 459-2359
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
--
Smoke Pfeiffer
Eschew Obfuscation!
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