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20th May 2020, 12:58 PM
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#1 |
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EAAF Staff
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Upstate New York, USA
Posts: 896
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I saw a 'degenerate' version with a typical modern cast chrome plated hook, red fabric covering and rather unattractive modern aluminum coins for sale in Venice in the 1980s. This prepared me when I saw a 19th century version (picture below) for sale as an unknown "what-is-it?" in an antique shop in Copenhagen years later (for a much cheaper price). I had not seen one with the blades added to the head before and Gregory128's example is clearly the best example I have encountered to date.
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21st May 2020, 04:19 AM
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#2 |
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Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: NC, U.S.A.
Posts: 2,076
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I have seen gaffing hooks with a sharp "marlin' spike to them, but never a blade! Pretty cool! The pattern resembles a lochober axe! I like it very much!
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22nd May 2020, 02:40 AM
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#3 |
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Member
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 5
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Thanks for the help guys. Very unusual. I would never have guessed its a 19th century Venetian boat hook? Surprising!
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22nd May 2020, 12:43 PM
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#4 |
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EAAF Staff
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Upstate New York, USA
Posts: 896
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These are described as 'gondola hooks' in The Upper Ten: A Novel of the Snobocracy by William Hosea Ballou (1890), p. 75, courtesy of Google Books.
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22nd May 2020, 01:47 PM
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#5 |
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Member
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Black Forest, Germany
Posts: 1,171
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One of the medals/coins shows the portrait of pope Pius IX (PONT MAX) 1846-1878, so this piece cannot have been in use before 1846.
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