What is this little deco item? Have you seen this before?

[Enigma1947]

Hello. I picked up this little beauty at an antique fair for $10. I don't know what it is or what function it originally served, but I am a collector of 1930's American so I had to have it! It is small- about only 4 inches high.

Have you ever seen one of these? Your help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

My mother would say something akin to, "It's a mechanism. It's for whatever."

.

 

[zetwal]

Just guessing here - gate latch perhaps?

 

[Miss Neecerie]

toilet paper roll holder for Thumbelina

 

[Warbaby]

If those holes in the ends of the arms are about 3/8" in diameter, it could be a mounting bracket for a wall mounted lamp.

 

[Shangas]

**Puts on Deerstalker hat**

Four inches 'high'...made of metal...My deductions...:

- The sharp, angular style indicative of art-deco, prevalent during the 20s, 30s and 40s. So about 70-80 years old.
- The 'base' has two small holes in it. This was originally screwed into a wall, as a bracket for holding something.
- Originally painted white, but is badly worn away at the edges. I think this attachment might have hung OUTSIDE rather than in, and constant exposure to the weather wore away the paint.
- The crosspiece halfway along between the two arms suggests that something had to be separated from whatever was hanging from this bracket...

My conclusion is that this was a bell-axle.

You screwed it into the wall of your house, outside your front door. You put a bell between the two arms and held it in-place with a rod or bar of wood or metal (the amount of wear suggests metal). A rope was attached to the top of the bell and threaded through the gap between the wall and the crosspiece and hung down, paralell to the wall. Pulling on the rope swung the bell OUTWARDS so that it would ring, instead of inwards, towards the wall, where it would only strike masonary.

How's that?

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"Might it be part of a pair?, missing a few parts? screwed to the wall at each end of the Tub in a cramped (but Chic) Manhattan bathroom, to dry "Intimate" items of apparel , that one didn't want to display to the neighbours?, on the Fire Escape?"

 

[vitanola]

It is a curtain rod bracket.

In the 1920's and 1930's there was a fashion for narrow (12-16") curtain panels on short, decorative hinged rods. The rods would be cantilevered out from a hinge such as the one that you display. These items could be quite decorative.

 

[donCarlos]

A line from hilarious british series "Black Books" comes to mind...

"- Bernard, do you want this? Buy this!
- What is it?
- It´s a ... thing
- Is it? What does it do?
- It´s very now, it´s very modern, buy it!"

If it´s supposed to be a rod bracket, doesn´t it need a second piece? Anyway, I would change the color, or maybe chromate it and put it on a shelf, maybe as a skid for books.

 

[Enigma1947]

Thanks for all the great ideas!

I'm glad to see that this little piece has stirred up some great ideas as well as plenty of humor! Now, I have so many choices as to what I can use it for. Shangas, I love the outdoor bell idea! Also love the curtain rod idea, Vitanola! It's a long shot but I hope I can find another to match. At the moment, it actually looks pretty good just sitting on a shelf, but I'm determined to put it to good use. Thank you everyone!:eusa_clap

 

[vitanola]

I'm glad to see that this little piece has stirred up some great ideas as well as plenty of humor! Now, I have so many choices as to what I can use it for. Shangas, I love the outdoor bell idea! Also love the curtain rod idea, Vitanola! It's a long shot but I hope I can find another to match. At the moment, it actually looks pretty good just sitting on a shelf, but I'm determined to put it to good use. Thank you everyone!:eusa_clap

Have you any windows? I believe that I still have a couple of sets of these curtain rods left. They really are quite decorative. Of course most surviving examples seem to be more "BORAX" than "DECO", but most still have a strong deco asthetic. The wall brackets are seldom as decorative as yours, though, generally being quite plain, with the ornament reserved for the rod.

 

[Shangas]

Now, I have so many choices as to what I can use it for. Shangas, I love the outdoor bell idea!

Oh thank you! I didn't think anyone would actually take it seriously