The Virtual Corkscrew Museum's Weekly Newspaper

Hedges & Butler

London, England - Hedges & Butler, merchants of fine wines and spirits was established in London in 1667. They were granted a Royal warrant by Queen Victoria in 1837 and since then they have been the official supplier to each king or queen and to foreign dignitaries as well. A popular spirit for many years has been H & B Single Malt from the Broar and Clynelish distilleries. The old Brorar distillery closed in 1983. Clynelish, its sister distillery has been in production since 1968.

Three corkscrews of merit marked with the Hedges & Butler name.

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Nifty Storage

USA - Reader Frank Marshall writtes "How do collectors store and display their Nifties? The Nifty was designed for the pocket. I have too many for that location. I have attached a photo showing my display case, but I can't find anymore double sided cases like this one."

Editor's Note: How about a list of advertising on Nifty corkscrews? The list would no doubt be quite long. Any interest?

Nifty related stories in past issues: April 15, 2003; August 14, 2003; January 14, 2004

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Travels with Jean

Eastman, Quebec, Canada -In late January, Jean Grignon stopped by the Virginia offices of The Weekly Screw on his way to warm weather in Florida. He returned to Canada with memories of a few corkscrew related finds in the Sunshine State:

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Follow-up - This appeared in the June 4 issue:

An Unusual Mix

Somewhere - A reader who chose to remain anonymous writes "This unusual item that continues to intrigue me. I'd be very curious as to what various addicts think about an unusual 18th Century English pocket corkscrew that has a turned ivory handle, a black multifaceted steel shank and a gold sheath hallmarked 'WT'. There is very faint overall surface 'wear' to the sheath, and no indcation that it is not period."

Somewhere else - An anonymous reader responds "This piece doesn't smell right to me. I suspect the steel shaft and worm (possibly taken from a ring-through picnic) are OK but the rest is new. The mixture of undecorated steel and gold is something I've not before encountered and the sheath doesn't look like an 18th century product.The only thing that prevents me from dismissing it outright is the presence of a hallmark, which I'd very much like to see.Hallmarks can, of course, be lifted from early pieces. All this having been said, I'm working from a low resolution digital photo and might change my tune if i had it in hand and could examine it carefully."

Somewhere - The owner responds "The handle of the gold corkscrew has a scalloped gold decoration surrounding the protruding top of the steel shaft. The photo of the scalloped decoration shows half, but it's all there. As to its rightness, the gold sheath fits 'like a glove' on my silver sheathed corkscrew hallmarked by Joseph Hicks -Exeter 191-1803, also pictured. Note that the steel shafts and worms are quite similar. A hallmark on a sheath is too miniscule to photograph sharply, but it's pictured below. Without hesitation, my gold pocket corkscrew is available for close and careful examination."

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