HAT PINHEADS ;)

Hi! Just got these and pretty sure they are hat pin holders. They are 2 to 2-1/4" tall.
The 2 similar ones appear to be hand painted as they are different in artwork.
The white one's artwork also appears to be hand painted and the gold oval around each flower is of raised random dots as well as those around some of the holes on the top.
The bottoms are open and I wonder if the white one was used for salt or pepper by someone since there is the remains of a cork there.
The maker seems to be JHR Bavaria.
Can anyone tell me anything about them including possible values?
Thank you much!

 

How cute! But I'm not so sure these are hatpin holders - they're so short and hatpins were very long. Plus the cork in the bottom of the one in the middle argues for salt/pepper shaker, at least for that one.

I could be wrong, of course, but that's my own reaction to them.

 

There are so many holes though......

 

Talc or powder shakers for the vanity?

 

Hmmmmmmm.... Intriguing.....

 

While I have used these for stickpin (not hat pin) display at shows, I have always assumed they were shakers.

 

There are 25 holes in the tall ones and 19 in the white one.
Stickpins! Would someone, a man I assume, have so many and in such a design?

 

I am not saying that they were used for display by the original owners, just that that was what I used them for.
I agree with others that they are shakers for something.

 

Messilane, give me a swift kick if need be but . . . all of the stickpins I have come with a small (removable, obviously) "tip cover" to "protect" the wearer as well as the sharp end of the pin and to keep the stickpin from dislodging from apparel.

With the small size of the holes in containers like photographed here, did you remove the stickpin "tip covers" before arraying the stickpins in the holder? Just curious.

 

Ah! I understand M.
Great question YTTLI!

 

heehee
The ones sold today, in shops and at shows, rarely have the clutch. They usually disappear over the years.
I have a few around here, and have sold "lots" of them now and then. I would find them floating in the bottom of old jewelry boxes, or in bags of jewelry from sales - with no stickpins to go with them.

 

Messilane, thank you for being so gracious about my "a-retentive" question and for teaching me the "clutch" word for the protective end on a stick pin.

 

Sometimes we need a Paramedic with us for what we might get into.

 

Yourturn, Your question was a good one - that kind of detail is the kind of thing that bugs the heck out me too!
I'll be all "but what about the ***?! How would that work?!".

 

Someone knows the answer to what they actually are but that doesn't stop re-purposing them so....

 

Salt shakers....2 from From the Hutschenreuther Porcelain Factory.

 

With 25 and 17 holes in them??????
Holy Salton Sea Batman!

 

why not ?
older S & P seem to have many more holes than today !

 

Ok then...
I don't usually put salt on anything so not used to them. Sometimes Cantaloupe and corn on the cob.

 

My wife puts mayo on the cob.....but then she puts it on everything short of fruit ! LOL !!!

The antique Rosenthal S&P's have tons of holes !