An Incredible Find

Brimfield, Massachusetts - Collector / Dealer Kenn Cameron has proven time and time again that he is a premiere hunter of corkscrews and corkscrew information. Not long ago Kenn found an original photograph of corkscrew inventor William Rockwell Clough taken at a 1900 Paris Exhibition. And now the photo above shows some of his wood carved corkscrew figures admiring his latest fabulous find amongst a number of his tusk handle corkscrews.

Kenn found the giant corkscrew on a table at a show where the dealer said he had purchased it at a Pennsylvania estate sale. Kenn lugged his 10 pound, 26" long corkscrew to his car thinking about how the elephant from which it came had to carry two of those tusks around everyday. When he got home, he immediately called his friend Ron MacLean to report his find. Ron remembered a 1909 photo of corkscrew inventor Edwin Walker with such a large corkscrew hanging around his neck. Ron contacted a tool collector friend and within hours he had a copy of a the photo from Patented & Transitional Metallic Plans in America, Vol. II by Roger Smith, Athol, Massachusetts in his hands.

Ron emailed the photo to Kenn and both agreed that it had to be the same corkscrew. The size relationship is correct. The markings on the tusk appear to be the same and the design at center is correct. It is without a doubt one of the most significant historical corkscrew finds to date.

The Daily Screw congratulates Kenn on a fabulous find and Ron and Kenn on a very informative bit of research. And we wonder: What about the other corkscrews in the photograph? Where are they? And where is the elephants other tusk?

Note: If anyone has a very clear copy of the Edwin Walker photograph, please contact The Daily Screw.

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Farfalli's Pocket Corkscrew

Maniago, Italy, July 26, 1988 - Germano Farfalli has been granted United States Patent Number 4,759,238 for his "Pocket Corkscrew" in the shape of a bottle. The bottle has a folding worm and neckstand in the "Waiter's Friend" style. The neckstand also has a bottle cap lifter. A pen clip is a nice addition for the waiter to keep the corkscrew handy in his shirt pocket.

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Gripping Shells

Steinbach-Hallenberg, Germany, July 26, 1898 - G. A. Pfeffer and M. W. Weber have registered a corkscrew design (No. 99881). At the top of the worm is a hand with a hole through the grip. The corkscrew has a bullet shaped sheath which fits in the hole giving the appearance that the hand is gripping the sheath as a handle to pull a cork.

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