Featured Victorian era Pill-Roller!!

Hey everybody!! How's this for an unexpected auction win?? I was the only bidder on what I was sure would be a highly contested piece of medical history!!!

Amazingly, nobody else wanted it!!



Solid brass and mahogany Victorian-era apocathary's pill-roller!!

This will go great with my vintage chemical bottles and brass apocathary's mortar and pestle sets!!



This is the rest of the auction lot that I won, along with the roller -- suppository molds!! LOL!!

 

The roller is cool - the suppository molds are a 'HOOT"..................I would absolutely have them displayed on a mirrored tray on the cocktail table in the drawing room..............THAT would start some conversations during drinks....................

 

You could use them as novelty ice cube molds...!!

 

I like the way you think as much as the way you collect, Shangas!

 

Thanks! Busy sorting it out now. Cleaning it, polishing it, oiling it up...

 

All I need is a brass balance-scale, a jar of leeches, four glass carboys and an apothecary's cabinet, and I shall be able to affect remarkable curatives to all of thine ills, with laxatives, purgatives, emetics, tinctures, plasters, inhalants and all other manner of potions, lotions, pills and remedies!! Fear not sir, and rest easy, madam! Thy restorative will soon be prepared!

 

I've given the roller a cursory polish and clean...



...and the brass looks much nicer, compared to how it was originally...



I can tell you now that cleaning the brass was a phenomenally laborious task. I'm only probably 1/3 done with it. Cleaning out the pill-grooves is especially time-consuming!!

The next step is to do something to clean up, preserve and improve the condition and look of the wood. I believe the wood is mahogany and does anybody here have any tips on what I should rub on it to preserve it, clean it, improve its looks and general condition, and to bring out the grain and such?

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Also, in researching this a little more, I realise that my pill-roller is missing a piece!! It's supposed to have a little sliding drawer at the bottom of the board, that is missing. I've seen photographs of what these things are supposed to look like and I feel confident that I can make one myself very easily. This will be my next restoration project!

 

WOW! The group picture showed how big this contraption is. Love the comments, the items and VERY generous offers for medical help.....LOL

 

Ah, but will you be able to turn antimony into gold???

 

The suppositories????

 

I think you also need the hypodermic set I just came across @Shangas!

 

Hi,
Just paste wax the mahogany it will protect and give it a sheen.
greg

 

Here's a photograph of what a complete pill-roller looks like. Mine is missing the drawer at the bottom. It looks pretty easy to make...

 

Well, I've purchased the necessary pieces to build the drawer.

My plan is to cut them to size, and glue the whole construct together, since I think it will be too small to utilise nails. Then I shall stain it to match the rest of the pill-roller.

 

Even better!! I shall cast the antimony into pea-sized spheres and sell them as the miraculous everlasting pill!! Buy one today and keep it as a heirloom to pass down through the family!!

 

You have to stop finding all this cool stuff and making us jealous.

 

Do I have to!? :'(

 

The saga of the pill-roller continues! Here's all the pieces of the drawer ready to be glued and nailed together...

 

All measured, cut, sanded and glued together!



And like every good drawer, it slides in and out, as you can see. Now I'm waiting for the glue to dry. Then I'll tap in a few nails to ensure its longevity, and then stain it to match the rest of the thing.