Jeri quotes Bodil Tornehave as having seen bones used for bobbins in a Scottish museum. I have the greatest respect for Bodil but I and at least one other arachne member scoured the Scottish museums for such an exhibit or record of such an exhibit.
I am afraid that none of the curators knew of it. That does not mean Bodil never saw it, as staff change a lot these days, just that we (and I cant remember who it was) drew a blank. My personal view is that it was quite possible for various bones to have been used as bobbins and I do also think that the quote by Yallop ( page 32) of Fullers observations must carry a lot of weight in the context of his travels and local occupation. He says : "Bone lace is named , it was first made with bone (since wooden ) bobbins. This it is usual for such utensils, both in Latin and English names gratefully to retain the memory of the first matter they were made of: as cochleare, a spoon (whether made of wood or metal) because cockle shells were first used for that purpose." I find this a most interesting statement and from it one can reasonably assume that either bones were used as bobbins and or that bobbins were originally made from bone. Then of course there is the Shakespeare quotation (that I can never remember). Also Bodil has pictures of some VERY early bone bobbins dug up in a midden in (?) Denmark. At this stage of my research I have very little doubt that bobbins were initially made from bone after having started as bones being used for bobbins. (as well as other natural materials eg the twigs etc.) but probably mainly bones. I have one very scholarly friend that disagrees with me about this and as she is much brighter than me I have refrained from going on record about these thoughts of mine. Until now. I am ready to do battle with her! :) Brian from Cooranbong, Australia - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED]
