I thought so at first too, or perhaps an etching tool of some kind, but I thought the blades looked too flimsy for this kind of work?
Gemma
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Could these be used for engraving wood?
Wood engraving is a relief printing process known for its small scale and fine line work. An engraving is made by cutting an image into the polished end-grain of a hardwood block. To take a print from the block, ink is rolled evenly on the surface of the block, paper is placed on top, and pressure is applied with a press, or by rubbing by hand with a burnisher. The cuts that were made into the wood do not receive any ink and come out as white, the surface of the block prints as black, and the image is reversed. The tools that are used to engrave the block resemble those used by a metal engraver.
Rachel Silverson MA, AMA
Museum Curator
Firing Line
Museum of The Queen’s Dragoon Guards and The Royal Welsh
The Interpretation Centre
Cardiff Castle
Castle Street
Cardiff
CF10 3RB
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Hi all,
We’ve been asked to help identify these implements. They are made by a company specialising in “Scientific and photography” materials and the enquirer suspects the may have been used to make parallel lines on photographs or negatives so that text could be added in a uniform way. He also points out that the numbers on them correspond roughly to font sizes. Is anyone able to help?
Best wishes
Gemma
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CITY ART CENTRE LAURISTON CASTLE MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD
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Greetings
Someone suggested that I might be able to find answers to some questions here, or, if not, some advice on the next place to turn. I live in Kansas, but have Scottish ancestry. I have visited your fine country (and some of your museums), and hope to do so again in the future
I got a note in Facebook messenger from a friend who used to live in KS but now lives in the Pensacola FL area. She said that she had obtained, in a batch of stuff from a Scottish auction, a little wooden box with some "unusual tools". An inscription inside the box said "This is the property of D.R. Rintoul". That’s my name. Not my middle initial, but a fine name nonetheless! I don't know the relationship of this person to me, but my great-grandfather (also named David Rintoul) emigrated to the USA from the Kinross region in the 19th century, so I suspect we are related. The box was made by the A.H. Baird Company in Edinburgh. A.H. Baird, according to what I can find on the internet, was "... a scientific instrument maker and chemical dealer from about 1889 to the 1940's. ... In the late 1880's Baird began carrying photographic supplies. In early advertisements he used the phrase "everything scientific" but in 1889 he published an ad that claimed "everything photographic".
It's hard to imagine the marvelous coincidence of all that (I am also a scientist and a photographer!). It's almost enough to make you believe in conspiracy theories (but not quite!). She graciously sent me the box and tools, and I will attach some images. In one of them a US quarter-dollar coin is included for scale; that coin’s diameter is approximately 24 mm (0.95 inches)
Hopefully someone can tell me, or point me toward another possible source of expertise. What are these tools for?
Here's what I know. They have tiny, almost illegible, numbers on the ends of the wooden sticks, ranging from 4 (the tiniest one) through 20. These are mostly even numbers, although one of them is 17. The tips of #s 17, 18 and 20 can be seen in one of the images below. The other sticks without tips must be for replacing the sticks on the tools, implying that they might regularly be broken (?). Some of the sticks are round, as you can see, but most are flat and tapered at one or both ends.
I can't come up with any photographic use for these things, but photography was definitely different back in those days. I am inclined to think that they are scientific instruments of some sort, dating from the earlier days of the Baird Company, but that is just a guess. I’d appreciate it if someone on your staff can take a look at these images and let me know their thoughts!
Thanks in advance
Dave
David A. Rintoul, Ph.D.
Emeritus Faculty
Biology Division - Kansas State University
Manhattan KS 66506
ICBM: 39.1926N, 96.5842W
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