As Alex says there are certainly other bobbins which are hand carved, South
Bucks bobbins for example. I haven't studied mine, but my sister said it
was the body of the bobbin that made her suspicious, not the neck.
Agreed, the Egyptians used a second person to turn a pulley with a rope as
power (1300 BC) and the sprung pole lathes date back at least to the Jorvik
Viking excavations under York. As those were straightforward to make from
locally available materials there is no reason for them to have been rare.
Wood turning was used for all sorts of furniture and eating utensils and
there was a Guild of Turners set up pre 1347 because at that point they were
told that turned measuring vessels had to conform with City of London
standards. When the demand was there for bobbins it would have been a good
way to use up the scraps of wood left over.
All this good information from my sister.
Malvary
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