The Least You Should Know is a series of articles on collecting Antiques and Collectable items. A shared knowledge of my wife and I and years of experience in going to flea markets, automotive swap meets, antique malls and everywhere in-between. Anywhere we can buy and sell these, overlooked part of our past history. And this site is where we will share what we learned. Enjoy
Where did Collecting Spoons start? Well, some say spoons collecting started around the 1800s at popular tourist destinations in Europe. Americans might think it started with a young Massachusetts Jeweler around the 1890s. Commemorating, the Salem Witch Hunt Trials.
Witch, excuse the pun, he sold 7,000 spoons in the first year.
For Sale is an unusual and Rare Ancient Crescent Moon & Star headpiece, possibly come off of a royalty tent post or staff headpiece (topper) of sorts.
Research shows the star and crescent is a symbol of the former Ottoman Empire and began being used in the second half of the 18th-century. The decision to have a national flag was decided as part of reforms to modernize the Ottoman state instead of contemporary European states.
The Turkish Flag today has some similarities.
Descriptions with pictures
Two hand-forged brass pieces with two steel peened over rivets holding the two sections together.
It looks to be a brass type material.
This is a blacksmith work of art … I did see some small amounts of file markings.
1 st (appraiser) Gabriela R…….z thought
I advertised this headpiece and had different opinions about what it is. Here is one collector that had a satisfying answer, and after saying this, she thought it was worth a lot of money.
She said, let me tell you a bit about the headpiece.
It was forged in two different molds made of bentonite, a type of clay, sand, and carbon dust. Then of coerce they hammered down and intricately embossed and gilded wether in gold powder, silver, or palladium. But it was forged in 1410 by a Greek Smith in Anatolian area the middle star has a symbol that the owner wanted outlined that he was a General and mediator between Ottoman rule and the Christian Orthodox community last name or by-name Demurcu. Now at least you know a bit more about it. Thank you I wish you could find its price though I KNOW IT WOULD BE MORE THAN I COULD PAY.
2 st (appraiser) thought
Hakan C…n from Turkey noted.
She says she saw this same kind of metal works in Dervish Lodges in Turkey. Its name “ALEM” in Turkish language, there is similar in metropolitan museum in New York City
Sufis believe that: “the human spirit being a direct emanation from the divine Command, is, therefore, an emanation of God himself, and could find its highest aim only in the obliteration of its illusory selfhood and absorption into the Eternal Reality.
This piece could be a HISTORICAL find
The Pig That Almost Started a War
The Kaiser Wilhelm Pig Coin Bank comes with an interesting story and it goes something like this. Around the year 1859 in the strait between Vancouver Island Canada and Washington, DC mainland is the San Juan Islands. A wondering off Canadian pig almost started a war with the United States; the dispute was called the Pig War or Pig and Potato War.
This war was almost started between Canada and the United States, by a trespassing pig. These islands in the strait were disputed to be either Great Britain (Canada) and/or the United States. Both believed it was their territory.
Curiosity and Oddities
The Least You Should Know Series is about collecting anything, but this post is about collecting something entirely different. It’s still a passion for many a collector, but it’s not your run of the mill type Royal Doulton Figurines, or Tiffany Lamps. Some of you would find collecting beautiful China a little on the boring side. That’s why in this post is for you, it’s about Curiosity and Oddities Collecting. Let’s say this subject matter is a little out of the normal realm of, piggy bank collecting.
