Ellis Collection - 18th Century 2 Pillar Corkscrew

18^th Century 2 Pillar Corkscrew

Very elegant 18^th Century two pillar corkscrew with a delicate steel frame with indented square top.  The sides of the frame are rounded on the outside but triangular on the inside, allowing a cursor bar to slide up and down them.  The cursor bar has rounded ends and a large decorative ball in the middle.  There is some up and down movement between the worm and the shaft within the ball, so it may be a hidden clutch? 

The shaft has a very unusual right handed thread with 9 closely wound threads with a gap in between.  The fixed handle is varnished wood with matching decorative narrow raised ribs with gaps in between.  It has a brush at one end and a small decorative ball  on top with a hanging ring.  The worm is fluted.

See Giulian – Corkscrews of 18^th C – page 179 for similar catalogue drawing but with left handed thread, and Ellis & Ellis – Corkscrews page 146

Condition – Very Good, steel frame has nice patina, but has dark marks and slight pitting, There is some loss of metal at the edge of the bottom of the frame on one side, the other side is OK. There is a loss of half of a turned rib of wood at the brush end, and slight loss of wood at the bottom of the other end of the handle. Mechanism works OK, worm is intact.