METALWARE

Other

STEEL

These very old steel scissors are hand made and possibly date from the early 1800's.

I found them, together with a broken pair of sheep shears, which were marked WR (1830-1837), in a small rubbish tip I unearthed when cleaning up our 40 acre property, soon after purchase 20 years ago.

This property was subdivided in the 1800's and there used to be a cottage, known as 'Cookie's Cottage', on the boundary of our block and an adjoining block to the south.

I had to fence our block, so it was useful to find the old cottage site, since the survey map showed the boundary going right through the middle of the cottage !

Luckily the brick chimney base and a few stray bricks were easy to find - I found all sorts of broken and partly burnt items, including a saddletree in the fork of a nearby gum tree.  Also a small doll - the first pudding doll I had ever seen.

These scissors, although quite corroded, have interesting decoration on their handles.
They are 5 inches long and 2 inches wide when closed.