The Virtual Corkscrew Museum's Daily Newspaper

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Find me!

A letter from Cape Town, South Africa:

Some years ago (3?) I saw a corkscrew in the tourist shop at one of our wine farms. (The farm is Boschendal and has the most superb buffet restaurant in the wine country near Cape Town (Stellenbosch and Franschhoek) in South Africa.

As I remember it (and I did not take detailed notice) is was in a presentation box (8"x8") and it was a marvel of mechanism; superb as a work of art as well as a cork-puller. The price then was equivalent to about US$50, far too expensive for a (relatively) impoverished engineer. The mechanism was in the open and all the workings could be seen. I have this image of a circular gear-type working part. I have looked at various corkscrews and through your Virtual Museum but have not seen anything that rings a bell. I don't think it is a Screwpull, or similar; the mechanics are too hidden. Any ideas?

Robin Scott, Somerset West near Cape Town

Our reply:

Are you referring to the VacuVin WineMaster?:

From Robin Scott:

Nope, it ain't it! The gearing was large and external, rather than shrouded. It was virtually all steel (?) mechanism. Of course, in hindsight, I wish I bought the dang thing ... and lived on bread and water for a month!

Our reply:

Can you give us a better idea - a drawing, perhaps. Then we will run it by our readers.

From Robin Scott:

Attached is a sketch of what I can remember of the format of the unknown corkscrew. It packed flat as it was in a presentation box about 8" square and quite shallow. It must be taken into account that the representation is what I think I remember from having seen and admired the corkscrew about 3 years ago! As it stands there it certainly won't work. If I added more bits to make it work it may not turn out the way it was (if you can work that out!).

Dear Readers:

Does this give anyone out there a clue to the corkscrew Robin seeks?

Contact Robin at roscoza@absamail.co.za

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