| Author |
Message |
Traineraz (Traineraz)
Elitist Bastard
Username: Traineraz
Post Number: 966
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 3, 2003 - 6:53 pm: |   |
Hmm, looks like the little springy dealiebob would be handy for holding an ice cube to stir in a drink if you didn't want the ice to completely melt in it . . . and the weird pointy tip could keep a syrup or granular substance from sticking to the bottom of a glass.
I spoze a shaker and strainer would be much easier, tho, both to use and to clean.
Of course, a shaker doesn't double as a lethal weapon AND nipple clamp.
He who would sacrifice liberty for security deserves neither.
 -- Thus Spake Zoboomafoo |
Spoon Boy (Absinthespoon)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Absinthespoon
Post Number: 349
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Monday, September 1, 2003 - 6:04 pm: | |
hookah bought in Pakistan or Turkey about 30 yrs ago
i have meershaum pipes too (in the closet somewhere) |
Marc Chevalier (Chevalier)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Chevalier
Post Number: 1443
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Monday, September 1, 2003 - 10:18 am: | |
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Marc Chevalier (Chevalier)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Chevalier
Post Number: 1442
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Monday, September 1, 2003 - 10:16 am: | |
It would more probably be called "Machine Age". Here are two by Kirsten (which still makes pipes today):
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Crochety Old Bastard (Artemis)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Artemis
Post Number: 916
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Monday, September 1, 2003 - 10:00 am: | |
"Eyes (and minds) better than mine are what makes this Forum worth coming to."
Not at all. I don't know much about absinthe antiques, but I know Rube Goldberg when I see it.
That's a way cool pipe you posted. Could it be called Art Deco? I like Art Deco applied to ANYTHING. I like the big calabash pipes and meershaum pipes, too.
"He is an unapologetic, crochety old bastard who will peddle any fibs that will make him a buck, or put him on a pedestal." |
Marc Chevalier (Chevalier)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Chevalier
Post Number: 1441
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Monday, September 1, 2003 - 9:42 am: | |
Okay, let' see ...
The hook, which I confess I didn't notice, doesn't make any sense.
It is a fact that when someone -- with more haste than finesse -- pours (rather than drips) carafe water onto an absinthe spoon, the sugar cube can disintegrate into several chunky pieces, which can slide toward the trowel's stem and fall down into the drink. (I don't make a habit of this, but it has happened to me in the *distant* past.)
Nonetheless, a clamp on an absinthe spoon would do more harm than good. I now see that Icarus, I B Puffin, Besançon, Artemis, and Oxygenée are right. Among other things: the sugar, partially covered by the clamp, would melt unevenly.
Eyes (and minds) better than mine are what makes this Forum worth coming to. Thanks for your observations.
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Oxygenee (Oxygenee)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Oxygenee
Post Number: 160
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Monday, September 1, 2003 - 9:16 am: | |
The eBay utensil is almost certainly a rather vulgar cobbled together hybrid, made with intent to deceive (although not necessarily of course by this particular eBay vendor). There's an outside chance that it's some sort of kitchen or bar utensil (although this is unlikely).
What it definitely isn't is an absinthe spoon.
It doesn't sit properly on a glass (in fact the hook tends to preclude this altogether), it lacks the notch to grip the glass (present in 99,99% of absinthe spoons), there's no functional explanation for the bottle opener part if it was made for use with absinthe, and the spring-loaded clasp, aside from addressing a problem that doesn't exist (the sugar cube never accidentally slides of the spoon), would also have the effect of pushing undissolved sugar into the glass, precisely the opposite of what any absintheur desires.
Over and above all this, there are practical and commonsense objections - it would be relatively expensive to manufacture, difficult to clean, and the spring would be prone to breaking.
Lastly, the chances of an unrecorded spoon, let alone a completely unique and unrecorded pattern, being listed on eBay (especially by an experienced vendor) are vanishingly small.
So it's a "NO" then... |
Marc Chevalier (Chevalier)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Chevalier
Post Number: 1440
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Monday, September 1, 2003 - 8:44 am: | |
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Marc Chevalier (Chevalier)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Chevalier
Post Number: 1439
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Monday, September 1, 2003 - 8:42 am: | |
Artemis wrote: "Do you have any opium pipes? Hookahs?"
Nope, but I do have a lot of strange pipes that were made in England and the U.S.A. back in the '30s, '40s and '50s. Aluminum with corncob inserts; nylon stems with bakelite bowls; shapes that look like tortured trombones or motor valves. And all of them claimed to offer a "scientifically-perfected" cooler smoke, drier smoke, and/or longer-lasting burn. (It's no surprise that Drs. Kirsten and Porsche, engineers both, designed their own lines of pipes.)
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pierre verte (Petermarc)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Petermarc
Post Number: 492
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 2:38 pm: | |
in the usa, around 1895, i believe...i imagine much later in france, as they were still hand-finshing some of their bottles and carafes in the 1920's... |
Crosby (Crosby)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Crosby
Post Number: 658
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 2:20 pm: | |
Anybody know what year crimped bottle caps came into common usage?
C'est ma santé |
Crochety Old Bastard (Artemis)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Artemis
Post Number: 914
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 11:56 am: | |
"Perhaps this spoon's maker claimed that the "sugar clip" prevented half-melted sugar cube chunks from sliding off the spoon prematurely."
That's a stretch, but I suppose anything is possible. If I see Oxygenee bidding on it, I'll know there's something to it other than a scam. And I'll also know the possibility of anybody winning it other than him is slim to none.
Do you have any opium pipes? Hookahs?
"He is an unapologetic, crochety old bastard who will peddle any fibs that will make him a buck, or put him on a pedestal." |
Crosby (Crosby)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Crosby
Post Number: 657
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 11:52 am: | |
"I'm going to start making Absinthe spoons out of Legos and sell them for millions..."
Wolfgang will be your first customer.
C'est ma santé |
Marc Chevalier (Chevalier)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Chevalier
Post Number: 1437
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 8:12 am: | |
Artemis, I collect tobacco pipes. From about 1890 until the 1960s, hundreds of models were produced featuring more-or-less ludicrous gimmicks: levers, slots, rings, rods, tubes, scoops, springs, magnets -- you name it, they marketed it.
I figure that the same could have been done with absinthe spoons. Perhaps this spoon's maker claimed that the "sugar clip" prevented half-melted sugar cube chunks from sliding off the spoon prematurely.
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Crochety Old Bastard (Artemis)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Artemis
Post Number: 910
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 6:58 am: | |
It looks like a doorknocker soldered to a beer bottle opener.
What would be the point of the Rube Goldberg "system with spring for maintaining well the piece of sugar"? For all those earthquakes in Paris that were always knocking the sugar off?
"He is an unapologetic, crochety old bastard who will peddle any fibs that will make him a buck, or put him on a pedestal." |
pierre verte (Petermarc)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Petermarc
Post Number: 491
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 3:16 am: | |
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3238895264&category=3269&rd=1
this ain't...you can see the whole modern dinner-service line on the internet, under the maker's name which is on the back of the plate...forgot what the name is... |
Marc Chevalier (Chevalier)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Chevalier
Post Number: 1436
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 3:49 pm: | |
But all kidding aside, I have a sneaking hunch that it's authentic.
Give it a few more days, and see if the usual big bidders don't come out to play. I bet they will.
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Donnie Darko (Besançon)
le Vicomte
Username: Besançon
Post Number: 54
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 3:46 pm: | |
Is there anything on eBay lately that isn't bullshit? I'm going to start making Absinthe spoons out of Legos and sell them for millions...
--------------------------------------------------
Gretchen--"Donnie Darko, sounds like some kind of superhero or something"
Donnie--"What makes you think I'm not?" |
The Levitating Grin Salesman (Rimbaud)
le Duc
Username: Rimbaud
Post Number: 338
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 3:35 pm: | |
The suspense is killing me...I hope it'll last.
"Please pardon our appearance while we are levitating..." |
Marc Chevalier (Chevalier)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Chevalier
Post Number: 1435
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 2:34 pm: | |
Auctions are a spectator sport. You can follow the unfolding distraction at:
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3239783158&category=3269
Personally, I think it looks like a bottle opener with some shrapnel soldered onto it.
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The Levitating Grin Salesman (Rimbaud)
le Duc
Username: Rimbaud
Post Number: 337
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 1:06 pm: | |
Seller's name is artemis89 (obviously not OUR Crochety Old Bastard) and describes the item in question as follows (translated via Babelfish w/a few corrections):
"extremely rare, not referenced in the book on the spoons but undoubtedly an absinthe spoon, I guarantee that it is not a question of a do-it-yourselfing, spoon is old, marked "mark deposée and a logo, bte sgdg. DESCRIPTION:partie pointed in the shape of spoon for stirring up well in the content of glass, a pin has the arriere to hang the spoon on the edge of glass, a system with spring for maintaining well the piece of sugar like 4 pins on the cotes. Length 16cm, probably in metal blanc..."
The bid is currently up to 45.50 euros.
"Please pardon our appearance while we are levitating..." |
Bob (I_b_puffin)
le Duc
Username: I_b_puffin
Post Number: 211
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 12:31 pm: | |
The Swiss army absinthe spoon. Does the seller say if he made it in his garage? |
The Levitating Grin Salesman (Rimbaud)
le Duc
Username: Rimbaud
Post Number: 335
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 8:17 am: | |
Ha ha ha ha!!! 
Yeah, I have my doubts about it too. I am curious about what the hell it is, though. I just thought I'd throw it out there for folks to see. I'm not bidding on it, that's for sure...
"Please pardon our appearance while we are levitating..." |
The Red Pigeon (Icarus)
Elitist Bastard
Username: Icarus
Post Number: 590
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 7:32 am: | |
Is that the Macgiver Beltbuckle-bottle opener-absinthe spoon with the new and improved sugar retention system?
I say put it back where you found it.
Escapee from the drunk tank |
The Levitating Grin Salesman (Rimbaud)
le Duc
Username: Rimbaud
Post Number: 334
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 7:20 am: | |
I found this on eBay France this morning. I've never seen anything like it...
"Please pardon our appearance while we are levitating..." |
