19th Century Railroad Pocket Watch

Pocket Watch M.J.Tobias Liverpool England 

(Railroad Time Keeper)

This is a "Railroad Time Keeper" pocket watch from M.J.Tobias Liverpool England. I picked up awhile back. The most interesting aspect about it to me, it's the inscription on the inside of the dust cover. 

"Presented to Chas H Brown by his Grandfather 1880"

In the 19th century, the Swiss were not the pre-eminent watchmakers they later became. They made many imitation American watches, and they made many watches that claimed the provenance of famous British watchmakers. One such watchmaker was M.I. Tobias. There probably are 20 M.J. Tobias watches (or more) for every genuine M.I. Tobias. Some may have been retailed by Tobias' successors. Others likely were 19 Century equivalents of fake Rolex's, etc.

I just recently had the watch tuned up and cleaned. I also had the crystal replaced and had to get a wind-up key which was missing when I bought it. The watch ran well before the minor repairs. Now 135 years later and a few bucks it run better then ever.

Even though it's a really nice time piece, I just can't help thinking of how happy "Chas" was when his proud, I'm sure, grandfather presented it to him so long ago.

I'm thinking the Grandfather worked for the railroad and gave it to his grandson when he started working for for the same.

My only question.Why didn't the watch stay in the family? at the very least for sentimental value.

May 21,1864, Civil War Harper's Weekly Advertisement for M.J Tobias Watches.

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This site has over 7,000 pages of original Civil War content, and is full of incredible photographs, original illustrations, and eyewitness accounts of the defining moments of this Historic Struggle. Bookmark this site, as you will simply not find this information anywhere else!

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Antique Nursing Items

"Turtle/Bango" Nurser Baby Bottle & Bicycle Horn Breast Pump

The banjo shaped feeders of the late 1800's were produced in great numbers. Many had sweet sounding names such as 'my little pet' and 'mummies darling' while others were very nationalistic like' The Empire', 'The National' 'The Victorian'. Some simply advertised the chemist from which they were bought but many cashed in on the popularity of the Princess of Wales in the 1880's. Hence the most common inscriptions bore the words, 'The Princess or 'The Alexandria'. However these sweet sounding names often belayed the hidden dangers of these little inconspicuous bottles. The later day nicknames 'The killer' or the 'The murderer' was indeed more apt.

Infant mortality rates were still extremely high even in the late Victorian era, with only 2 out of 10 infants reaching the age of two. Hygiene was often relegated to the point of non-existence, and the hand rearing of babies was fraught with danger.

The bottles were designed with a integral glass tube, and a stopper. Attached to the glass tube there was a length of Indian rubber tubing, which ended with a bone mouth shield and a rubber teat. This design of bottle was impossible to keep clean and even though openly condemned by much of the medical profession of the time, continued to sell well into the 1920's. Much of this popularity was attributed to the fact that the baby could be left unattended to feed, even before the baby was old enough to hold the bottle.

Charles M. Windship of Roxbury, Massachusetts, patented the first United States nursing bottle in 1841...Many nursing bottles of the late 1800's were made to lay flat and a few types were embossed with reminders such as "Feed the Baby."

Assorted Marbles

Marbles Found while out digging

A marble is a small spherical toy usually made from glass, clay, steel, plastic or agate. 

These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about 1/2 inch to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.6 cm) in diameter, but they may range from less than 1/30 inch (0.111 cm) to over 3 inches (7.75 cm), while some art glass marbles for display purposes are over 12 inches (30 cm) wide. Marbles can be used for a variety of games called marbles. They are often collected, both for nostalgia and for their aesthetic colors. In the North of England the objects and the game are called "taws", with larger taws being called bottle washers after the use of a marble in Codd-neck bottles.

MARBLE TYPES

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Alley or real - made of marble or alabaster (alley is short for alabaster), streaked with wavy or other patterns with exotic names like corkscrew, spiral, snake, ribbon, onyx, swirl, bumblebee, butterfly, and...An orange and white toothpaste marble

Toothpaste - Also known as "Plainsies" in Canada. Wavy streaks usually with red, blue, black, white, orange.

Turtle - wavy streaks containing green and yellow

Ade - strands of opaque white and color, making lemon-ade, lime-ade, orange-ade, etc.

Oxblood - a streaky patch resembling blood

Opaque - a rather uninteresting marble, but popular. Comes in many colors.

Oilie or Oily - Opaque with a rainbow, iridescent finish

Pearls - Opaque with single color with "mother of pearl" finish

Lutz - antique, handmade German swirl, containing bands of fine copper flakes that glitter like gold. Erroneously thought to have been invented by noted glassmaker Nicholas Lutz. Medium-high value for antique marbles, depending on specific sub-type of Lutz design.

Onionskin - antique, handmade German swirl, with many closely packed surface streaks. Medium price range for antique marbles.

Clam broth - equally spaced opaque lines on a milk-white opaque base. Rare clams can have blue or black base glass. Medium-high value for antique marbles; rare base color valued much higher.

Cat's Eye or catseye - central eye-shaped colored inserts or cores (injected inside the marble)

Devil's Eye - red with yellow eye

Beach ball - three colors and six vanes

Aggie - made of agate (aggie is short for agate) or glass resembling agate, with various patterns like in the alley

Bumblebee - modern, machine-made marble; mostly yellow with two black strips on each side.

China - glazed porcelain, with various patterns similar to an alley marble. Geometric patterns have low value; flowers or other identifiable objects can command high prices.

Plaster - a form of china that is unglazed

Commie or common - made of clay; natural color or monochrome coloration. Made in huge quantities during 19th and early 20th centuries. Common, not very attractive; thus almost no value.

Bennington - clay fired in a kiln with salt glaze -- usually brown, often blue. Other coloration's fairly scarce. Fairly low value.

Crock - made from crockery (earthenware) clay

Croton alley or Jasper - glazed and unglazed china marbled with blue

Crystal or clearie or purie - any clear colored glass - including "opals," "glimmers," "bloods," "rubies," etc. These can have any number of descriptive names such as "deep blue sea", "blue moon", "green ghost", "brass bottle".

Princess - a tinted crystal

Galaxy - modern, machine-made marble; lots of dots inserted to look like like a sky of stars

Indian - antique, handmade German marble; dark and opaque, usually black, with overlaid groups of color bands; usually white, and one or more other colors. Can also have many colors like blue, green and scarlet. Medium price range for antique marbles.

Mica - antique, handmade German marble; glassy to translucent with streaks or patches of mica, ranging from clear to misty. Value depends on glass color.

Steely - made of steel; a true steely (not just a ball-bearing) was made from a flat piece of steel folded into a sphere and shows a cross where the corners all come together.

Tiger- Clear with orange/ yellow stripes

Swirly - is a common marble made out of glass with one swirly color.

Sulphide - Antique, handmade German marble; large (1.25 to 3+ inch) clear glass sphere with a small statuette or figure inside. Most common are domesticated animals such as dogs, cats, cows, etc.; then wild animals; human figures are scarce; inanimate objects such as a train or pocket watch are very rare and command high prices. The interior figures are made of white clay or kaolin, and appear a silvery color due to light refraction. A sulphide with a colored-glass sphere, or with a painted figure inside, is also very rare and brings a high price. Like other types of antique marbles, sulfides have been reproduced and faked in large quantities.

No.1A Pocket Kodak folding camera

No. 1A Pocket Kodak was a folding camera. It made 2 ½×4 ¼ " exposures. The No. 1A used A116 film. The A in the model name indicates that the camera is an "Autographic" 

It was manufactured from 1926 to 1932.

Antique Tibetan Prayer Wheel

Antique Tibetan Buddhist 

Prayer Wheel

Prayer wheels are associated with the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. They contain scrolls which have texts written on them. These texts are often mantras, a term which means 'instrument of thought', a particularly helpful definition within the context of Buddhism. Buddhist belief is that each mantra - which may be a verse, syllable or series of syllables - represents a different quality or aspect of enlightenment, such as love, compassion, energy or fearlessness. Perhaps the most common mantra, and one which is often inscribed on the outside of the prayer wheel, is 'Om Mani Padme Hum' which means 'Hail to the jewel in the heart of the lotus'. This is a reference to the Buddha's teaching which is often described as a precious jewel.Prayer wheels come in many forms and sizes, from small hand held ones which are turned as people walk to large wheels set in rivers and turned by the power of the water. Some Tibetan communities in the Western World make use of prayer wheels powered by electric motors. Turning the wheel releases the spiritual power contained in the texts and mantras and sends this throughout the world. 

Purchased at a flea market for $1.00