Featured is this lignum vitae? Or not ? And what is it? x x x

Discussion in 'Antique Discussion' started by BoudiccaJones, Jan 15, 2019.

  1. BoudiccaJones

    BoudiccaJones Well-Known Member

    Hello all x x

    Is this lignum vitae? Or not? And what was it for?
    It's small, I thought perhaps for tea but it's only about three inches from top of the finial.

    (Got it yesterday for 50p so nothing invested) xx

    iPod for scale!
    (Oh that reminds me, I was browsing some old threads the other day and this <3 symbol was mentioned ... someone said it was a heart ( which it is)...anyway not much to add to the conversation but just want to mention Ive never had an phone ( have an iPod obvs as she's there in front of us!) and the heart symbol predates iPhone as I've been using it for years and years ) x x

    Thanks everyone xx

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    Hope that's not too many pics, sure one or two would have done xx
     
  2. afantiques

    afantiques Well-Known Member

    Lignum vitae sinks in water.
    Looks like a piece of modernish craftsman turnery. No specific purpose.
     
  3. BoudiccaJones

    BoudiccaJones Well-Known Member

    Thank you very much x xx
     
  4. Lecollectionneur

    Lecollectionneur Well-Known Member

    Not Lignum Vitae, but hardwood and old, that's certainly, it is like some 18and 19th century pieces I have from parts of my country where they not use ceramic, it's something you can make for me, when you open it, it smells ?
    Can you make a picture of the foot from under please.
    It's a wood take with the hearth colored and it's why you think it's gaïac or Lignum Vitae but that is the same with woods having natural coloration by fungus or others reasons, if you can see natural ebony, you see the same aspect.
    When you take it in hands it's perfectly made for opening it in my view, try it and say what you think ?
     
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  5. BoudiccaJones

    BoudiccaJones Well-Known Member

    (I'd not even heard of lignum vitae until today so was worth the 50p for learning purposes!)

    I thought it looked a bit like this pic I found on the net, but I am as ever clueless x

    [​IMG]
     
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  6. BoudiccaJones

    BoudiccaJones Well-Known Member

    Just took the lid off and had a sniff, not sure if it smells a bit aromatic or not. I think probably not...it's definitely a sort of wood.

    In my pics it look a bit reddish compared to the pics I have see of that lignum stuff now I compare them so I was right off. xx​
     
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  7. Lecollectionneur

    Lecollectionneur Well-Known Member

    Gaïac is a wood expensive, and not used for common articles, you found it often mount in silver for trinking vessels or same use, here it's made on a lathe then not from countries where the wood grown which make super items without a lathe, I have some covered boxes which are incredible in quality made with exotic woods very hard only by cutting.
     
  8. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    "Treen" this type of work is called.
     
  9. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    You tell'em girl!:punch::D

    Nice piece of treen, nice wood. It could look more like the other one with a bit of oil, maybe?
     
  10. BoudiccaJones

    BoudiccaJones Well-Known Member

    **You tell'em girl!:punch::D**
    (hehehe! I stored that up,AJ! Can you tell?!)



    I have oiled it, it was dry as a bone and could probably do with more but will let this layer sink in. You know how patient I am :O :O

    Doesn't look as that red IRL as it does in the pics but I think does have a reddish tinge.

    It fits so nicely,the lid sits perfectly which I'm not really used to. It screws into place and almost clicks...it feels nice in the hand x


    Never heard of that word before! Thank you ! Will go n look x x
     
  11. daveydempsey

    daveydempsey Moderator Moderator

    My first thoughts when seeing this thread was "Treen"
     
  12. BoudiccaJones

    BoudiccaJones Well-Known Member

    Does treen mean small wooden...things? Is it usually useful things or just small woodens?
     
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  13. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Uhm, not at all.:angelic::hilarious:
    Yes, it is a bit like wood therapy: Don't worry little treen, you will get better.:)
    Uhm....:angelic:
    Yes, treen comes from tree. Small handmade wooden things.
     
  14. BoudiccaJones

    BoudiccaJones Well-Known Member

    Thanks lovely x x x x
     
  15. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    Elm, I'd say and with a bit of age. Might be snuff or a spice or just a nice wee box. Treen, indeed.
     
  16. BoudiccaJones

    BoudiccaJones Well-Known Member

    Thank you Mrs. Beautiful Bear x x x
     
  17. silverthwait

    silverthwait Well-Known Member

    I rather like that other word up there: "turnery."

    "Turnery...turnery..."
     
  18. all_fakes

    all_fakes Well-Known Member

    It might be worth noting that common names for wood are highly variable, depending on the country and language that one might be speaking - and even the era. (The common mahogany of my youth is a different wood than found in a new piece of mahogany furniture).
    I believe Gaïac is a French term for the species which might be more commonly called lignum vitae in the Americas; however there are actually five species covered by either term, and only the heartwood, of some of them, is normally called lignum vitae...so one man's lignum vitae might be another man's guayacán.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaiacum
     
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  19. silverthwait

    silverthwait Well-Known Member

    Actually, lignum vitae sounds as if it were a tendon attached to leg bones...
     
  20. Lecollectionneur

    Lecollectionneur Well-Known Member

    Lignum Vitae is a typical english word used for gaïac in general without difference between species variants, your box is really a nice item in my opinion, but i'm a box mad especially the wooden ones, this afternoon I make some pictures of treen to call like english people with similar traces of tooling, they are some specific swiss goblets from the Alps part which were in wood with those typical marks from the inside boring, you never see that on products for commercial purpose, personally This is in the folk art category too.
    For provenance it can be made in a region where it's not ceramic used in common life, when you describe the lid functionality is typical from those boxes when workers know so good wood to make something closed hundreds years long.
     
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