Celtic Knotwork from Garth Duncan

This pretty thimble, open along one side to accomodate longish fingernails, is available through Duncan House, in either 14K gold (£525.00, about US$1,031.29) or sterling silver (£75.00, about US$147.32). It was designed by Garth Duncan, a silversmith of American birth now residing on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. He has many lovely traditional designs for a variety of items, particularly jewelry, though this is the only thimble I saw on the website.

Happy Feet

Or is it March of the Penguins? Anyway these little penguin friends are available through Penguin Place, a. . . uh. . . place for penguins. To the left is a 2-inch porcelain thimble for $8.95 plus S/H. To the right is a Russian hand-painted thimble for $14.95.

Patent: No. 18807: Sewing-Thimble

Patent No. 18807, John Devlin, Philadelphia, PA,

Dec. 8, 1857

Iceland thimbles

This is one of a number of souvenir thimbles of Iceland available through Sunfilm, a website featuring all manner of gifts and souvenirs from Iceland.
They also have thimbles featuring a Puffin, an Icelandic man, an Icelandic woman, an Icelandic flag, an Icelandic map, a Celtic Knot (different from the one at left, called "Dragons"), and Blue Lagoon (not the Brooke Shields movie), for US$5.00 each, plus S/H* .
I cannot figure out how to link directly to the thimbles page, but if you go to the home page, click on "Souvenirs" on the menu on the left, then scroll down a bit, and click on "Thimbles and Bells."

*A warning: the thimbles are reasonably priced, but the S/H is wildly expensive.

Patent: No. 423828: Sewing Thimble

Patent No. D423828, Meyer L. Robbins, New York, NY,

April 8, 1913.

Patent: No. 936902: Sewing Thimble

Patent No. 936,902, Charles Edward Iles, Birmingham, England,

Oct. 12, 1909

Meerschaum thimbles from Sinan Atilla

These beautiful thimbles have been hand-carved from meerschaum by noted Istanbul artist Sinan Atilla. Meerschaum is a mineral ("a hydrous magnesium silicate"), soft and porous when mined, that hardens when dried. The French term is écume de mer, which like the German meerschaum, means sea-foam, as the mineral is sometimes found floating on the Black Sea. The highest quality meerschaum, used in the thimbles shown above, is mined from the Eskişehir plain in Turkey.
Sinan Atilla's thimbles are superior to any other meerschaum thimbles I have seen. The carving is much more finely detailed, and the beeswax finish gives the thimbles an antique ivory appearance.
Other pieces of his work can be seen at The Art of Meerschaum, and are for sale at Turkishtulip.com and occasionally on eBay.

Enamelled thimble on eBay

Silver guilloché enamelled thimble with moonstone top.
US$342.99: 22 bids, starting at US$20.00.
23 January 2007.

Patent: No. 158614: Fingernail Guard Thimble

Patent No. 158614, Joseph J. Quethera, Trona, CA,

June 15, 1949

God on our side

Sold on eBay
Gott Mit Uns (God With Us) 1914, sterling silver
GBP 32.10 (US$63.25): 4 bids, starting at GBP 5.19 (US$10.17).
17 January 2007

Patent: No. 1082542: Leather Workers Thimble

Patent No. 1082542, Donald Manson, Riversdale, New Zealand,

Dec. 30, 1913

Patent: No. 279524: Thimble

Patent No. 279524, Marshal Beaty, Cincinatti, OH,

June 9, 1883

Where the Buffalo Roam

This nice little buffalo thimble is from a place called English's Buffalo Farm in Bainbridge, Indiana. Their "Trading Post" is the only website I've seen where one can order both thimbles (they have four different choices, all $4.95 + S/H) and buffalo tongue. The website has a huge catalog of souvenirs and other stuff (no spoons!) and buffalo meat recipes. I'm curious about the Bison Kabobs.

I think one can go visit the place: the website has a map.
English's Buffalo Farm
6432 N. US HWY 231
Bainbridge, Indiana 46105
(765) 522-7777

San Diego Zoo

This cute little thimble is a souvenir from the San Diego Zoo. I have an entirely different thimble from the San Diego Zoo that my dear Auntie and Uncle got me a zillion years ago. I think they didn't have the "official" panda logo/motif way back then. Mine has a butterfly with "San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park" on the reverse.
Anyway, the thimble pictured at right features the really good graphic with the pandas, and is available through ShopZoo.com (scroll down the page a little: not all of the web site's pages have this design problem, but the thimble page does). It costs only $1.95 plus S/H. The online store has all kinds of souvenirs* and panda stuff, plus some really cute stuffed animals. They also have a cute Koala Backpack for children** $21.99.

*No spoons. HA-HA-HA! Tough luck, Spoonies!
**Here I digress from my usual thimble-related rant to whine about a fashion faux pas: Ladies, if you are over the age of, say, thirteen, you should not--must not--carry or wear furry-stuffed-animal backpacks as purses. Please.

Shiny! Pretty! Ooohhh!

This is a reproduction of an antique thimble. It's sterling silver and a itty bit over one inch tall. It is available from Sandra Acree (scroll down the page a little) for $25.49 plus S/H. They have some other lovely repros of sewing tools and some cute sterling chatelaine earrings. I don't know that I would wear them (what with?), but they're cute.

Patent: No. 866532: Sewing Thimble

Patent No. 866532, Blaine A. Stair, Los Angeles, CA,

Sept. 17, 1907

Nothing else to do today?

A thimble by any other name. . .

Albanian: këllëf
Arabic: ‏كشتبان, ‏قمع الخياط, ‏حلقة معدنية
Bulgarian: напръстник
Chinese: 顶针, 頂針 (ding zhēn)
Czech: náprstek
Danish: skede
Dutch: vingerhoed, vingerhoedje
Esperanto: fingringo
Farsi: لوله فلزی کوتاه , انگشتانه (angošt-âna)
Finnish: sekoittaja, sekoitin
French: dé (à coudre)
German: Fingerhut
Greek: δαχτυλήθρα
Hebrew: אצבעון
Hungarian: gyűszűk
Indonesian: bidal
Irish: méaracán
Italian: ditale
Japanese: 指貫き , 指貫 (Kanji), ゆびぬき (Katakana)
Korean: 명. 골무
Manx: mairane (Harebell)
Papiamen: vringud
Pig Latin: imblethay
Polish: naparstek
Portuguese: dedal
Romanian: degetar
Russian: наперсток
Scottish: meuran
Serbo-Croatian: naprstak
Spanish: dedal
Swedish: fingerborg
Thai: ปลอกสวมนิ้วสำหรับจับเข็มเย็บผ้า, สิ่งที่คล้ายปลอกดังกล่าว
Turkmen: oяmak, яьwse
Turkish: yüksük
Ukranian: наконечник
Welsh: gwniadur

If these words do not, in fact, mean thimble, or, even worse, mean something wholly un-thimble-ish (and naughty), please accept my profuse apologies. And blame. . .
http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/thimble
http://www.stars21.com/index.html
http://www.babylon.com
http://www.freedict.com

Atlantis Marine World

This thimble is from (Duh!) Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead, NY.
It is pewter and is $4.95 plus S/H.
I have never been there, but it looks like a cool place to take the kids, or to explore on your own. One can loll about looking at stuff, or engage in one of the many events they have going on: I think I'd like the Piranha Feeding.

Visitor Info:

• General Admission (add tax): Kids under 3: Free; Kids 3-11: $15.50; Ages 12-62: $18.50; 63+: $15.50.
  
• Daily Events that cost--sometimes lots--extra (add tax): Shark Dive; Behind-the-Scenes Tour; Ray Bay Lecture & Public Feeding; Atlantis Explorer Tour Boat; Sand Shark Lagoon Lecture & Public Feeding; Seal Kiss.
• Address: Atlantis Marine World, 431 East Main Street, Riverhead, NY 11901
• Phone: (631) 208-9200; Fax: (631) 208-0466

The Call of the Wild

This pewter thimble is available through the Iditerod Store for $5.50 plus S/H. The store is part of the Official Site of The Iditerod, which has lots of cool Iditerod stuff: news, maps, videos, countdown to Iditerod XXXV (starts March 2, 2007), the current temperature in Wasilla, AK, etc.
The site also has a link for donations to the Susan Butcher Family Center at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. The center provides "support, counseling and education" for children and teens who have had an adult family member diagnosed with cancer.

Exceedingly yummy thimble sold on eBay

Ornamental ring and thimble from Kazakhstan.
GBP 104.56 (US$205.76): 13 bids starting at GBP 25.00 (US$49.20).
10 January 2007.

If the winning bidder needs a place to store it. . .

Not a thimble, part four.

This thimblything (pictured left) is a Dentipet Finger Brush. One brushes one's pet's teeth with it. I do not have a kitty, but I think every office/breakroom in America has had one of those "How to give a cat a pill" essays posted somewhere in it, and this brushing-one's cat's-teeth thimblythingy reminds me of it. Dangerous business, I would imagine. This one is available from The Vet Shed.



It looks suspiciously similar to the baby finger-tooth-brushes (pictured right) found on another website.

Patent: No. D22106: Thimble

Patent No. D22,106, Maria C. Scherer, Bayonne, NJ,
Jan. 10, 1893

Some thimbles sold on eBay

The following thimbles got the following prices on eBay:

Mother of Pearl Palais Royal thimble
US$460.00: 15 bids starting at US$101.00.
3 December 2006.




Marius Hammer Silver enamelled thimble (Norway)
GBP 56.00 (US$108.11): 11 bids starting at GBP 15.00 (US$29.51).
4 January 2007.






1982 Meissen first annual limited edition thimble: no. 104 of 1000 (Germany).
US$183.49: 15 bids starting at US$7.00.
4 January 2007.

Look Away

This thimble is from the The Museum of the Confederacy Haversack Store. It is pewter and costs $ 7.95 plus S/H. The blurb accompanying the thimble photo states "the St. Andrew's cross decorates the converse."
Just the cross, or the do they mean the Confederate flag?
Sorry the picture is so tiny.

The Journey of the Magi

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For the journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins,
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death,
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

-- T. S. Eliot