Dear Clay,
But considering how many people are collecting old bobbins, and
how many old lacemakers existed 150 years ago... it doesn't take a
giant leap to question whether all of these "antiques" are really so....
I fully agree with all you've written, expect perhaps for the above
quote. I would have, that is until last week when I finished reading
a wonderful book called "Thomas Lester, his Lace and the East
Midlands Industry 1820 - 1905" by Anne Buck, 1981 & 1982 ISBN 0
903585 09 X. Perhaps you have it too.
In that book the author has gone to the trouble to check the numbers
of people who offered "lacemaker" as their occupation in the various
censuses & petitions of the UK in the 19th century. Here are the
statistics as she quoted them:-
Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire & Northamptonshire - 1881 - 12,480
- 1871 - 20,587
- 1861 - 23,450
- 1851 -
26,670 (5,725 under 15 yrs of age)
- 1830 -
petition of lace-manufacturers - 150,000
- 1815 - over 150,000
Now, you will recall that it was about 1820 that the machine lace
industry became firmly entrenched and began to have a significant
effect on the numbers of lace-makers, as evidenced by the above
figures. However, IF there were around 150,000 lace-makers in 1815
working point ground, it would not seem unreasonable to me that each
would own at least 100 bobbins, giving us 15,000,000 antique bobbins
for which to keep out an eye on Ebay :) Even if only half have
survived, that's still ample for the numbers collecting them today,
without forgers ever having to go to all that trouble.
Just thoughts
David in Ballarat
-
To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line:
unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
