Info on Swiss Cowbell

Looking for info on this Swiss Cowbell I found at a thrift store. It came with a belt. It looks too new to be orginal.

 

original to what ?
they have been making these for tourists for ages.....but this looks like it may have some age....

 

The bell looks antique but the belt does not.

 

Welcome!
Please always>>>>
~

 

well....it's fer cows !
you can always put an older bell on a newer leather band....
& btw...that neck band looks tough enough to be ready for use....as opposed to sittin over the fireplace............where Dad kept his !!

 

One Swiss Franc (CHF) = one US Dollar
http://www.glockengiesserei-gusset.ch/shop/index.html

 

Think we would usually call the 'belt' a collar?

No doubt bell collars wear out & have to be replaced from time to time. This is a remarkable item:'Ousset' returns no exact matches; 'Ustendorf' (do I have that correctly?) returns only as a surname. I was thinking that Ustendorf was the place where the bells were made, but maybe part of the company name, Ousset-Ustendorf? That there is no more Internet presence than this for either name suggests the bell is quite old.

There is little on cowbells, other than the percussive kind we all need more of. Best find:

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/haute-savoie-cowbell-maker.html

 

Hi,
My Gram had a cow she was named Daisy but she was a real BITCH. She was gentle to everyone but me. I had to be real careful in milking her in the morning. If I did not sort of wrap my feet around the milk pail she would kick the pail and knock it over. She had a bell around her neck but she would manage to dip it in mud or "waste" to coat it on the inside to keep it from ringing. My grandfather milked her in the evening and would stand there and let him do what, she never kicked the bucket only when I was milking her in the morning. Perhaps it was her way of having fun.
greg

 

perhaps your hands were to rough....

 

Hi,
As a 10 year old my hands were like soft silk, now my grandfathers were like rocks with many calluses. Perhaps she liked the roughness instead, Who knows what goes on inside the head of a cow?
greg

 

WE DO NEED MORE COWBELL!!!

 

Perhaps it was not the texture of your palms (try bag balm for rough ones) but your technique. Maybe Daisy was teaching you by the only means available to her. As for mud or manure in the bell, either very clever or somehow unavoidable when drinking & grazing. As for what goes on in their heads, only Hathor knows.

 

Uetendorf, not Ustendorf..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uetendorf