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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Northern Lights Lodge, post: 8028695, member: 13464&quot;][USER=8708]@KSW[/USER]... Yes, you are right they are Bedsfordshire bobbins! And yes, the top one is known as a &quot;banded&quot;; but it was also called a &quot;tiger&quot; - due to the pewter stripes. Often bobbins had dates - the earliest recorded date on a lace bobbin appears to be 1714. </p><p><br /></p><p>From what I can see, it appears that your banded/tiger bobbin may have been made by (according to the book &quot;Success to the Lace Pillow&quot; by Christine and David Springett printed in 1981) &quot;Bobbin Maker A&quot;. They were unable to give him a name and they weren&#039;t able to date the years that he manufactured bobbins; but apparently he was making bobbins during the early part of the 19th century. </p><p><br /></p><p>He is identified by finishing his bobbins with a round or oval shape &quot;bead&quot; at the bottom end of his bobbins which has one line incised around the widest part and then there is a smaller projection under that which would be drilled to take the &quot;spangle&quot;. The head of his bobbins are &quot;flat topped&quot; with a rather smushed oval or &quot;onion shaped&quot; under the flat head. The groove between the two is where the thread was looped so that it could slide and release more thread when necessary. </p><p>The only thing that differs in the description is that according to Springett&#039;s the &quot;shoulder&quot; under the area known as the &quot;spindle&quot; where extra thread was wound was quite flat... yours is quite rounded. Whether that discounts it being made by Bobbin maker A would be up for discussion.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the &quot;spangle&quot;; the beads are quite original to the era - although there is a chance that they were rewired if the wire broke, they probably used the beads over again.&nbsp; Also according to the Springett&#039;s - this time in a book called &quot;Spangles and Superstitions&quot; (1987); the square beads were the most common and were known as &quot;square cuts&quot;; although they are actually not &#039;cut&#039;. Bead maker Robert Haskins watched both his grandfather and father make similar beads. He related to &quot;The Bedfordshire Times and Independant&#039; in 1912; &quot;These beads were melted off one at a time, from a stick of glass and twirled on a copper wire which made the hole; then pressed on the sides with a file which produced the square shape and the peculiar markings on the surface. The glass was often obtained from decanter tops and tallow lamps.</p><p><br /></p><p>The black faceted one was made from a hollow cane and were fairly common at the time.</p><p><br /></p><p>The large blue and white one! A &quot;treasure&quot;! The Evil Eye Bead! The &quot;snake&quot; begins at the hole on one side of the bead and spirals round to the other end of the hole.&nbsp; This bead was meant to keep away the &quot;evil eye&quot; (still so well known in Turkish tradition). </p><p><br /></p><p>Then it looks as if you have a &quot;foil&quot; bead. It is said that they were produced on the Isle of Man. It would be a fairly uncommon bead for a humble lacemaker.</p><p><br /></p><p>The beads were sometimes attached to a circle of wire - and then that circle of wire was attached to the bobbin with a second loop of wire - very often a pin which had lost it&#039;s point.</p><p><br /></p><p>The beads were an important feature of Bedsfordshire lacemaking bobbins. They prevented the bobbins from undue rolling (and therefore untwisting the thread); but more importantly added weight to keep the proper amount of tension on the thread. </p><p><br /></p><p>Just an additional short note here: Every country that made bobbin lace (and often each county) had their own style of pillow and bobbin. The equipment was very specific to the type of lace that was being used. </p><p><br /></p><p>Honiton lace (made in Honiton, of course) used a &quot;Honiton pillow&quot; which was a very rounded ball held in a wood cradle for working and Honiton bobbins were used. The bobbins were very lightweight and dainty with no spangles and very little ornamentation.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bedsfordshire lace often relied on a round, hill shape pillow with a bolster roller in the center. The coordinating bobbins were larger and &quot;spangled&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>The history of bobbins, pillows and equipment is a story upon itself!</p><p><br /></p><p>Ok. Well that gives you a bit of info about your tiger.</p><p>Cheerio, Leslie</p><p>On to your leopard![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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