Precurser to Sterno?

[Maine Digger]

Hi all, here's a wonderful little item I found in a dig last year. I'm guessing it's a container to hold a candle or burning oil beneath a food server? The dump it came out of was pre-1900, lots of broken pontils. I found out later that the old (95) guy next door had dug the dump back in the sixities. We still managed an umbrella ink, a few cures and this thing. Great craftsmanship, the frame is designed to look like twigs or perhaps heavy grape vines. The interior is zinc that may have been coated with copper at one time. It pivots on pins just above the grape clusters on each side. Time for confession, I did a big no, no [&:], I cleaned the vessal part with brass cleaner and promptly removed what apparently was gold leaf[]. Ouch! I really knew better but....sometimes you just screw up[8D]. Anyway, hope you like it![]

 

[Maine Digger]

where did the pic go?[8D]

 

[Maine Digger]

here's side view

 

[Maine Digger]

close-up of grape cluster & pivot

 

[Maine Digger]

and here's a shot with an apple to show scale, I got hungry[]

 

[Maine Digger]

lasty, a top shot

 

[Bluebelle]

Whatever it is, it's absolutely gorgeous! I'm thinking that if it were to hold something to heat, that it wouldn't pivot - I never saw anything that heated, like chafing dish etc, that didn't have a fixed and solid way to keep the heating stuff level.
With the grapes on the sides and the vine-type decorations, I'm wondering if it had something to do with serving wine. Thanks for sharing, and for letting me think out loud about the item.

 

[drjhostetters]

Hey Norm...

Could it possibly be an incense burner or an opium "sniffer"...kinda like a "...Tip it my way dude."..type of thing? Just wondering...very unusual object....



The Doc..[X(]

 

[woody]

It looks like a revolving inkwell stand and the ink bottle would go inside of it.
This way you could take the ink bottle out to refill it.

 

[deepwoods]

Hey Norm, very cool find! Thats what I love about this hobby,you never know what will pop up. The skeeters are absolutly beyond the pale this summer-too much rain.I tried to dig the other day without repellant and I had to leave-they were killing me. Take Care.