51/238/1-14

These fourteen bobbins for lace-making came from a lacemaker in Ickford, Buckinghamshire. They are made of carved bone and have, or had, spangles – glass beads or ornaments attached to the bottom of the bobbin to provide additional weight. Bobbins were often regarded as love tokens and were inscribed with names, mottoes or love messages. Of these bobbins, three have names pricked out on them and another has the inscription ‘Lads Never Love To [sic] Lasses At Once’.

30 bobbins: bone & pewter & wire & beads; good conditionTwo have thin wire wound about them, and one is ornamented by a pattern of inlaid pewter. Three have names pricked into then : William (with no colour added), Victoria (in red) and Vinnie (in red and black). Another has the inscription "lads never love two lasses at once". One is a MOTHER-IN-BABE or CHURCH WINDOW type. A compartment, with windows, is hollowed out of the shank, and a baby bobbin inserted.

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'Lace bobbins were used in making pillow lace. The threads from two bobbins were tied together, and kept in place by a pin, stuck in the parchment patterns, which was attached to the pillow. The pattern was worked out with a line of pins and their respective bobbins, and the lace formed by weaving the bobbins over each other. Many bobbins were made by village turners out of material such as brass, silver, iron, pewter, but most commonly of wood or bone. They were often regarded as love tokens, and were inscribed with names, mottoes or love messages. Inscriptions were more common, however, on bone than on wood bobbins. // Many of them were coloured, either all over or in patterns, and ornamented with SPANGLES or JINGLES, wire loops threaded with beads which were attached to the end of the bobbin. When perfect, spangles consist of nine beads, viz. two TOP BEADS, six SQUARE CUTS (square beads with file markings on the sides), and a large, round bottom bead. Spangles were a nineteenth century characteristic. It has been said that they were used to compensate for the loss of weight consequent on the change from thick, bulbous shafts to thin ones. // Mr. Massingham obtained these bobbins from a lacemaker of Ickford (South Bucks). They are all of bone, all are carved, and have, or have had, spangles attached to them. Most of them are coloured in some way. There are two with thin wire wound about them, and one which is ornamented by a pattern of inlaid pewter. There are three bobbins with names pricked out on them; William (with no colour added), Victoria (in red) and Vinnie (in red and black). Names and mottoes were often dotted on with a small drill, after the bobbin had been shaped on the lathe, and the colouring achieved by dropping the bobbin into dye and rubbing off what was not wanted on the lathe. Another bobbin has the inscription “lads never love two lasses at once”. The last bobbin is one of the type called MOTHER-IN-BABE or CHURCH WINDOW bobbins. A compartment, with windows, is hollowed out of the shank, and a baby bobbin inserted.', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/238 // NAME: 114 LACEMAKER'S BOBBINS // NEG NO.: 35/1282 // STORAGE: ', Visiting researcher note, Ann Dismukes (lacemaker), 1 October 2014 – This group of bone bobbins are decorated in a variety of ways: some with grooves, some with coloured grooves; some with pricked out words or designs; one with wire. Most have a pink colouring, but some have green colouring. The bobbins bear the following words: ‘Vinny’; ‘Queen Victoria’; ‘William’; ‘James’ (extremely faint); ‘Lads Never Love To [sic] Lasses At Once’ (this bobbin looks as though the spangle has been re-wired).

1800-01-01 - 1899-12-31

Nineteenth century

Bone, Metal, pewter, Metal