Rigolette trying to distact herself. . .

Rigolette cherchant à se distraire en l'absence de Germain

(Rigolette trying to distract herself during Germain's absence) Joseph Désiré Court.
Oil on canvas. Musée des Beaux Arts, Rouen, France.

3rd Rock From The Sun: Green Eyed Dick

This is the episode with the thimble, or '"Turkish nipple armor." It's divided into three clips, which I've embedded here indivually. The thimble is at the beginning of the second part. There must be a more efficient way to put the videos into this blog than to have all three separately, but I'm a thimble geek not a computer geek, so I dunno. Anyway, for the whole episode, watch all three in sequence, top to bottom; for just the thimble part, see the first couple minutes of the second clip.

Tonto Natural Bridge thimble

This little thimble is available through the Arizona State Parks Gift Catalog website in either gold- or copper-tone for only $4.00 plus S/H. The web-weary can call them at either 1-888-498-0036 (from inside Arizona) or 1-888-498-0037 (from outside Arizona). They also have a similar thimble available for Yuma Territorial Prison. I like the idea of thimbles featuring prisons. It could be a collecting specialty. I already have one from Alcatraz. Are there any for Reading Gaol? Gitmo? Hmmmm. . .

Jane Chantler

The beautiful thimbles shown at left were all designed and wrought by specialist silversmith Jane Chantler of Jane Chantler Ltd, Clifford House, Brough, Cumbria, UK. They are but four of 25 thimbles featured on her website, all of which are made from heavy, hallmarked Sterling Silver and are priced from £56.50 to £71.00 (about US$111.00 to US$140.00). Each thimble featured on the website is also available in gold or platinum, as are her custom-designed thimbles or jewelry pieces.

Jon!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Jon Magazine - Thimble Collection
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Nonsense Thimble

From: Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets,
"Nonsense Alphabet No. 3," by Edward Lear.

Hooray, José!

From: The People (London), 20 Jan 2008:
STAR HOARDS: Which celebrities collect old tennis balls, typewriters, butterflies, pigs, thimbles, comics, coat hangers... and pigeon skeletons? A ROUND-UP OF THE ODD ITEMS IN A-LIST LOFTS. . .
YOU wouldn't guess he has a weird hobby, but Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks is an obsessive collector of vintage TYPEWRITERS. The Forest Gump star revealed his secret passion on the Jonathan Ross show last week. He scours the internet for rare examples and chats to other collectors on typewriter web sites. But he's not the only star who hoards odd items. RACHAEL BLETCHLY unearthed some strange celebrity passions...

JOSE CARRERAS: Thimbles
SPANISH opera giant Jose has a huge collection of rare thimbles - which cost a lot more than three tenners.

Recipe: Hot Ditalini Salad

1 c. ditalini pasta (thimble-sized tubes)
1 15-oz. can white kidney beans, rinse and drain.
½ c. chicken broth
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 Tblsp. olive oil
2 c. tomatoes, chopped up in chunks
12 oz. cooked chicken, pulled into bite-size chunks
¼ c. fresh flat-leaf parsley, torn or snipped
Salt and pepper to taste
Don't go nuts about exact measurements.

• Cook pasta (follow directions on package); drain; set aside.
• In blender, purée 3/4 cup of the white kidney beans with the chicken broth. Put purée into pan and bring to boiling. Add set-aside pasta.
• In a large skillet, sauté garlic in olive oil for 1 minute. Add tomatoes; cook an additional minute. Add rest of beans , chicken, parsley, salt and pepper. Heat through, but don't mash up.
• Add the garlic/tomato mixture to hot pasta; toss to coat. Makes about four servings.

Steal this Book!

The Thimble: An Heroi-comical Poem, in Four Cantos
by William Hawkins

I found this while noodling around in Google Books on another project and thought I'd try the little link-jobby-thingy to see how it works. I guess the link works OK, but I had to shrink down the image a little (twice!): at first it took up so much space that it knocked my sidebar stuff to the bottom of the page.

Why thimble sellers should learn about thimbles.

OK. I'm not writing about the eBay thimble sellers who specialize in thimbles and other sewing collectibles. They know what's up. I am referring to the regular Joe Schmoes selling their grandma's 80,000 treasured knickknacks, and to the irregular "Antique" dealers trying to unload somebody-else's grandma's assorted junk as "Estate" pieces.
My petulant little points:

1. This is not "vintage." Nor unmarked silver. Nor tarnished from age. It's a current, modern, buy-it-at-today-at-WalMart silver-tone metal thimble. With a smidge of rust. So, actually, not even as valuable as any thimble one can buy in any fabric/craft/notions/drug store on Main Street, USA, for 99 cents. Not worth $85.00. Sorry.

2. This is not "antique." It is not Victorian. Not European. Not a rare archaeological find from some unspecified Middle Eastern nomadic people. It is from Mexico, almost certainly from Taxco, which is an honorable enough lineage, but they are not rare in the United States and are readily and reasonably available internationally through eBay. A fair price would be $8.00-15.oo. Not $49.95.
3. Thimbles do not come with holes in them. Thimbles are not designed with holes to ventillate thimbles. A thimble has a hole because the owner pushed a needle all the way through the thimble and made a hole. Do not feed me any other story about it. DO NOT. And if you're selling me this thimble through eBay or any other online website: tell me if there are any holes. A hole de-values a thimble more than any other type of damage. I may still want the thimble with the hole, but I want to know about the hole. And a thimble with a hole that's been "repaired" (see left, click to enlarge)--even repaired fairly well--is a thimble with a repaired hole, not a thimble without a hole. And while I'm at it (whew!), don't tell me it's just a small hole. Of course it's small: it's on a thimble. But it's still a hole.

What the . . .?

Pictured above are what are called Pigeon Racing Thimbles.
First: Hooray for anything referencing thimbles. Sincerely. Genuinely. YAY!!
Second: I have been trying to figure out what they do with these thimbles in pigeon racing. I've read the Wikipedia article and apparently they have something to do with timing the dear, little birdies, which have some sort of numbered bands put around their legs from when they're pretty much fresh from the egg. I think that when the pigeon arrives at its little pigeon-home-nest-place, pooped from the long flight, its owner (human pigeon-companion, if you will) removes the band and pops it into the thimble-thingy which goes into the pigeon racing clock. Again, I think that's what happens, but I could be entirely wrong (it's happened before). This must be so intuitively obvious to fans of this. . . uh. . . sport. . . that they feel no need to explain it, but I'm dipped if I'm clear on the concept. Seems like one could cheat.
Oh! There are Pigeon Clock Collectors groups and societies! YAY!
I wonder if they have to hear, "You collect what?," all the time too.

Three thimble lots at Bonhams.

Art & Antiques
Sale 16278
Knowle, England
15 January 2008

Lot 36: A Royal Worcester porcelain thimbles (2).
The blush ivory ground painted with a robin amid flowers over a gilt rim, 2.6 cm., and another painted with scattered flowers, (cracked and s.d.), 1.9 cm.
Update: Sold for £20 (about US$39.61) plus Premium and tax.

Lot 402: Two eastern ring thimbles (2).
One with decorated thimble, each attached to a finger ring with stone.
Update: Sold for £85 (about US$168.33) plus Premium and tax.

Lot 403: Four Thimbles (4).
Comprising: two Indian ivory examples, a Dutch silver ribbed finger guard, with duty mark, 4 cm., and a thimble on chain to a ring decorated with stones.
The listing title references FIVE thimbles, but the body of the text and the photo indicate 4 thimbles.

Update: Sold for £60 (about US$118.82) plus Premium and tax.

Merry, Merry. . .

The Thimble shown is "Winter Village" by Joan Dodge, available from Gimbel & Sons Gifts and Collectibles.

Humble thimble, holy work.

This is a photo of a thimbled finger embroidering a Kiswa--the beautiful, gold-embellished, black-silk cover for the Ka'aba in Mecca. The Ka'aba is covered with a new Kiswa every year on the 9th Dhu al-Hijja, the ninth day of the last month of the Islamic year, on the eve of the annual Hajj--pilgrimmage--to Mecca. The old Kiswa is then cut up and presented to various esteemed Muslim individuals and organizations.
The Kiswa comprises 47 pieces of the finest silk cloth, totaling 28,524 square feet (about 1477 pounds), embroidered with nearly 33 pounds of gold-plated silver wire. The Kiswa is wrapped around the Ka'aba and fastened to the ground with copper rings. The current cost of making the Kiswa is roughly US$4-6 million.

Franz Ruckart Marroquin

Franz Ruckart Marroquin was born in Guatemala in 1928, to a German father and Guatemalan mother. Mr. Marroquin's thimbles typically depict Guatemalan images. The right-hand thimble, above, has a Guatemalan corn god, corn being the main food staple there (According to the book Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, the United States' main food staple is corn syrup.). The outer two thimbles both show a quetzal, the national symbol of Guatemala. I have one of Mr. Marraquin's thimbles that has the corn god, the quetzal, andTikal, Guatemala's largest Mayan pyramid. It is similar to those shown above, but the silver encases a gun-metal-colored inner core, which is seen through the cut-outs in the silver. It is absolutely one of my most beautiful thimbles, and one of my favorites.
Mr. Marroquin's thimbles are available sometimes on eBay, most frequently through the seller ProSilversmith, which is based in Guatemala and has a number of other items from Mr. Marroquin.

Update: See comment from Luis, AKA "Prosilversmith." It is sad that there has not been more interest in Mr. Marroquin's thimbles. They are absolutely exquisite. I think that collectors tend to flock to what they have heard of or seen in books or whatever, and don't use their own judgment as to what is beautiful and of value. I understand that there is a need to distinguish between, say, genuine antiques and "instant collectible" junk, but I think we also need to appreciate that there are artisans creating beautiful pieces today that are just as worthy of being collected as any "antiques" out there.

This is beautiful.

Patent: No. 1263002: Thimble

Patent No. 1263002, Leonora Terry, ST. Joseph, MO,
April 1918.

Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat

There's a whisper down the line at 11.39
When the Night Mail's ready to depart,
Saying "Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?
We must find him or the train can't start."
All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters
They are searching high and low,
Saying "Skimble where is Skimble for unless he's very nimble
Then the Night Mail just can't go."
At 11.42 then the signal's nearly due
And the passengers are frantic to a man—
Then Skimble will appear and he'll saunter to the rear:
He's been busy in the luggage van!

He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes
And the signal goes "All Clear!"
And we're off at last for the northern part
Of the Northern Hemisphere!

You may say that by and large it is Skimble who's in charge
Of the Sleeping Car Express.
From the driver and the guards to the bagmen playing cards
He will supervise them all, more or less.
Down the corridor he paces and examines all the faces
Of the travellers in the First and the Third;
He establishes control by a regular patrol
And he'd know at once if anything occurred.
He will watch you without winking and he sees what you are thinking
And it's certain that he doesn't approve
Of hilarity and riot, so the folk are very quiet
When Skimble is about and on the move.
You can play no pranks with Skimbleshanks!
He's a Cat that cannot be ignored;
So nothing goes wrong on the Northern Mail
When Skimbleshanks is aboard.
Oh, it's very pleasant when you have found your little den
With your name written up on the door.
And the berth is very neat with a newly folded sheet
And there's not a speck of dust on the floor.
There is every sort of light-you can make it dark or bright;
There's a handle that you turn to make a breeze.
There's a funny little basin you're supposed to wash your face in
And a crank to shut the window if you sneeze.
Then the guard looks in politely and will ask you very brightly
"Do you like your morning tea weak or strong?"
But Skimble's just behind him and was ready to remind him,
For Skimble won't let anything go wrong.
And when you creep into your cosy berth
And pull up the counterpane,
You ought to reflect that it's very nice
To know that you won't be bothered by mice—
You can leave all that to the Railway Cat,
The Cat of the Railway Train!

In the watches of the night he is always fresh and bright;
Every now and then he has a cup of tea
With perhaps a drop of Scotch while he's keeping on the watch,
Only stopping here and there to catch a flea.
You were fast asleep at Crewe and so you never knew
That he was walking up and down the station;
You were sleeping all the while he was busy at Carlisle,
Where he greets the stationmaster with elation.
But you saw him at Dumfries, where he speaks to the police
If there's anything they ought to know about:
When you get to Gallowgate there you do not have to wait—
For Skimbleshanks will help you to get out!
He gives you a wave of his long brown tail
Which says: "I'll see you again!
You'll meet without fail on the Midnight Mail
The Cat of the Railway Train."

--T.S. Eliot

So, I know that I should have a little picture of a thimble with the poster of the musical Cats here. The thing is. . . dare I confess it?. . . I hate that musical. Hate it. I'm not so very fond of any Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, period.
Duhhhm-dum . . .dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-duhhhm-dum.
Dumb.

Madonna of the Evening Flowers

All day long I have been working,
Now I am tired
I call: "Where are you?"
But there is only the oak-tree rustling in the wind.
The house is very quiet,
The sun shines in on your books,
On your scissors and thimble just put down,
But you are not there.
Suddenly I am lonely:
Where are you? I go about searching.

Then I see you,
Standing under a spire of pale blue larkspur,
With a basket of roses on your arm.
You are cool, like silver,
And you smile.
I think the Canterbury bells are playing little tunes.

You tell me that the peonies need spraying,
That the columbines have overrun all bounds,
That the pyrus japonica should be cut back and rounded.
You tell me all these things.
But I look at you, heart of silver,
White heart-flame of polished silver,
Burning beneath the blue steeples of the larkspur,
And I long to kneel instantly at your feet,
While all about us peal the loud, sweet, Te Deums of the Canterbury bells.

--Amy Lowell

Anouk Johanna

This little Peter Rabbit thimble is made from genuine fossilized mammoth by Anouk Johanna, a native Dutch woman currently residing in Santa Cruz, CA. She creates many lovely scrimshaw items. Her thimbles are about 1 1/4 inches high and about 1 inch in diameter at the base. Her website features several more examples of her thimbles, including thimbles featuring Jemima Puddleduck; Pig Robinson; Pooh, Piglet and the Honey Jars; The Three Bears; The Tailor of Gloucester; Tommy Kitten; Pooh, Owl & Piglet; and Christopher Robin and Friends. The color thimbles are about $425.00 (it varies) plus S/H, with the monochrome (dark brown) thimbles priced at about $325.00.
You can also get a matching itty-bitty thimble stand for $15.00. The items on the site have already been sold, but Anouk can replicate any of the designs or create a custom design (more expensive). She also does custom watercolors.

Sister, can you spare a dime?

(Little Rock) Arkansas Democrat,
31 August 1899; Issue 293; col C.

Until later.

Hi!
I need to take a little time off from thimble-blogging.
The rest of my life needs more attention right now.
I shall return.
Until later. . .
Mí.

"New" thimble discovered at Jamestown.

They have found this copper-alloy Nuremberg thimble at the Jamestown dig. Of course it was corroded with that green stuff that builds up on copper. A lot builds up in 400 years. But they removed that with some acid and little. . . well. . . not elbow grease. . . knuckle grease?
"It's definitely the best thimble we've found at Jamestown." YAY! Check out the cool video (partly thimble-related) at Dailypress.com.

In Memoriam: Darren Bohan

Darren Christopher Bohan
29 September 1966 - 11 September 2001

Once again I missed a sale!

St. Paul (MN) Daily News,
3 December 1892, page 4, col. A.

Just a thimble full.

This needlepoint canvas was designed by Sharon G. She has this absolutely yummy collection of handpainted needlepoint canvases, among which are a series of bras/tap pants. This canvas is called "Thimble Full." There are several pun-themed bras in the series--"Bee Cup " with bees, "Hooter" with owl eyes, and "Headlights " with, well, car headlights--along with just plain fun designs like the "Old Bat" bra and pants for Halloween.
Her designs are not for sale on her website, though one can purchase Sharon's designs from a number of online retailers, like Needle Nook of La Jolla (CA), and RichSister Company. I got my "Thimble Full" canvas through one of the eBay vendors of fine needlepoint canvases.

My World Is Pyramid

I

Half of the fellow father as he doubles
His sea-sucked Adam in the hollow hulk,
Half of the fellow mother as she dabbles
To-morrow's diver in her horny milk,
Bisected shadows on the thunder's bone
Bolt for the salt unborn.

The fellow half was frozen as it bubbled
Corrosive spring out of the iceberg's crop,
The fellow seed and shadow as it babbled
The swing of milk was tufted in the pap,
For half of love was planted in the lost,
And the unplanted ghost.

The broken halves are fellowed in a cripple,
The crutch that marrow taps upon their sleep,
Limp in the street of sea, among the rabble
Of tide-tongued heads and bladders in the deep,
And stake the sleepers in the savage grave
That the vampire laugh.

The patchwork halves were cloven as they scudded
The wild pigs' wood, and slime upon the trees,
Sucking the dark, kissed on the cyanide,
And loosed the braiding adders from their hairs,
Rotating halves are horning as they drill
The arterial angel.

What colour is glory? death's feather? tremble
The halves that pierce the pin's point in the air,
And prick the thumb-stained heaven through the thimble.
The ghost is dumb that stammered in the straw,
The ghost that hatched his havoc as he flew
Blinds their cloud-tracking eye.

II

My world is pyramid. The padded mummer
Weeps on the desert ochre and the salt
Incising summer.
My Egypt's armour buckling in its sheet,
I scrape through resin to a starry bone
And a blood parhelion.

My world is cypress, and an English valley.
I piece my flesh that rattled on the yards
Red in an Austrian volley.
I hear, through dead men's drums, the riddled lads,
Screwing their bowels from a hill of bones,
Cry Eloi to the guns.

My grave is watered by the crossing Jordan.
The Arctic scut, and basin of the South,
Drip on my dead house garden.
Who seek me landward, marking in my mouth
The straws of Asia, lose me as I turn
Through the Atlantic corn.

The fellow halves that, cloven as they swivel
On casting tides, are tangled in the shells,
Bearding the unborn devil,
Bleed from my burning fork and smell my heels.
The tongue's of heaven gossip as I glide
Binding my angel's hood.

Who blows death's feather? What glory is colour?
I blow the stammel feather in the vein.
The loin is glory in a working pallor.
My clay unsuckled and my salt unborn,
The secret child, I sift about the sea
Dry in the half-tracked thigh.

--Dylan Thomas

Beautiful thimble at Zeeland Museum.

This insanely beautiful silver thimble is on display at the Zeeland Museum (Zeeuws Museum) Middelburg, Zeeland, Netherlands. The museum itself is located in an old Abbey and was recently (June 2007) re-opened after eight years of extensive renovations. The museum houses an extensive collection of local art and artifacts.
This particular thimble belonged to Sara van Reigersberg, given to her on her wedding day, 20 November 1594, by her new husband, Ingel Leunissen. Reproductions have been made with permission of the museum, in sterling silver, with and without the gold overlay, and are themselves considered worthy additions to any collection.

Happy Labor Day!

Patent: No. 222572: Thimble

Patent No. 222572, Marshal D. Chipley, New York, NY,
December 1879.

Thimble finally set free.

I happened upon this article about a 17th century thimble, among other things, found in an old safe in Lower Brailes, Warwickshire, England. The webpage has this (left) photograph of Fr. Brian Doolan holding some other silver stuff found in the safe, but not the thimble.

With all due respect to the good father, I wanna see the thimble.

If they'd found a spoon I bet they'd darned well show that.

Hmm. . .

Foxglove.

(A poem using the common names of the plant)

Let her slide on her witches gloves,
Let her shake and peel
her dead man's bells,
But little folk, stay and mark
the tale this pixy tells.

Save your zeal and never wear
the faeries gloves of our Lady,
for she is trying to trap you
by her deeds, so many shady.

She may temp from above,
The wistful traveller,
with her bloody fingers
masked by the virgins glove.

But no more shall she trap
Our friends the sprite so nimble
By the wearing of the a fairy cap
Nor to wear the fairy thimble

Don’t be tempted by the folk’s glove
Let it nestle by the way,
Pay homage to the Lady,
pass on by, and let her stay.

--Philip Edmondson

Beautiful porcelain thimbles sold on eBay.

Four modern Limoges hand-painted thimbles: marked "LIMOGES FRANCE peint main."
US$107.50; 23 bids, starting at US$0.99.
31 July 2007.

I think these were produced by Carenton Porcelaine. I believe the folks at Carenton do the handpainting on thimble blanks (undecorated, unglazed porcelain thimbles) made in Limoges, France. I don't think they do the fussing with the clay and all that. There are some lovely thimbles from Carenton Porcelaine similar to these ones available though The Thimble Guild. They're not all together on one page, so they're tricky to find. The easiest way seems to be clicking on the "From Around the World" link and then scrolling through the six pages in that category. They're not cheap.

"Thimble Farm" for sale.

OK, OK. . . so I thought it was a farm where they grow thimbles. I bet a lot of people did. . .
Instead it's just this house somewhere in England.
£1,650,000 (abt. US$3,308,415.00).
That's a lot of thimbles.

Patent Silver Thimbles (for fale from filver fmith).

Connecticut Gazette, 18 July 1804,
Volume XLI, Issue 2123, Page 1.

Things go better with Coke®.

1930s Coca-Cola® Aluminum Whistle Thimble.
US$75.00; 6 bids, starting at US$10.00.
16 August 2007.

Another example of U.S. Patent No. 2092942. The first example sold for US$42.00. Usually collectibles with appeal to more than one kind of collector--say Coca-Cola® collectors and thimble collectors--will go a little higher than usual because of the increased competition among bidders.

A Thimble Tribute to the King.

Elvis Presley's Hot Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich*
2 Tblsp. peanut butter (preferably smooth)
2 slices white sandwich bread, lightly toasted.
1 small ripe banana, mashed with a fork (about ¼ cup)
2 Tblsp. butter, melted

• Spread peanut butter evenly on 1 slice of toast, then spread mashed banana on other slice, leaving a ¼-inch border around edge.
• Close sandwich, gently pressing bread slices together.
• Fry sandwich in melted butter, turning over once, until golden brown, about 2 minutes total.
• Eat while still warm.

This sounds pretty awful to me, but the comments from people who've tried it on the various recipe websites that feature this recipe all highly recommend it.
*Recipe adapted from Are You Hungry Tonight?: Elvis' Favorite Recipes,by Brenda Butler.

Lovely, colorful enamelled thimble sold on eBay.

Sterling silver enamel landscape thimble. Germany, size 7.
US$86.00; 26 bids (whew!), starting at US$9.99.
10 August 2007.

I like this thimble a lot. I have a few silver enamelled thimbles; mostly with flowers on a pastel background or variations on a blue windmill scene. This one so colorful!

Catching up.

A few follow-ups to previous posts. . .
I have gone on at some length about the influx of fakes and reproductions of the "Cherubs and Garlands" thimble into the various venues for selling thimbles. Within the last couple of weeks two auctions of what look to me from the photographs to genuine "Cherubs and Garlands" thimbles have been up for auction on eBay. Both thimbles have no holes, are in-round, and have (as shown in photos) authentic Simons Bros. marks. The auctions brought the following results:
9 August 2007: Size 9: US $34.68; 3 bids, starting at US$25.82.
10 August 2007: Size 11: US$44.95; 13 bids, starting at US$1.08.
A third auction of what was purported to be a "Cherubs and Garlands" thimble with a seller-set starting bid of $35.00 went un-bid upon. This third thimble looked a little sketchy to me. But why are the prices of genuine ones so low? Bidder skepticism as to their authenticity or is there a glut on the "Cherubs and Garlands" thimble market? Hmm. . .

On the other hand, a sterling Simons Bros. "Stitch in Time" thimble had a respectable showing at US $229.30 (8 bids starting at US$33.33). Maybe a little lower than I've seen, but still pretty good for about one-fifth of an ounce of .925 silver.

But back to dubious thimbles and purveyors thereof:
I also posted about some thimbles that were supposed to be either (1) Fabergé from the Bulgarian royal court, or (2) 19th c. generic European (no marks), but I thought most likely neither. Now I find this ghastly cat thimble much in the same style, with what look at a distance like British silver marks. Who knows where they're really coming from?
A kind correspondant informs me that a series like this was sold as "modern" by the Thimble Society of London in the early 1990s. Thank you.

Carrie Adell

These sterling silver "fingernail" thimbles were made by the late jewelry-artist, Carrie Adell (14 Nov 1931-15 July 2001). These particular ones are not my favorites of her thimbles, but it was the only photo I could find, so here it is, tarnish and everything. On my favorite of her thimbles, the fingernail part has a design that looks sort of like sand thats had water wash little ridges through it. Ms. Adell became renowned for her beautiful multi-precious-metal jewelry and small handmade beads she called "Touchstones." She had (at least) two registered U.S. Patents (that I could find) : 5515584 and 6108878, both for wire connection systems used in jewelry. Her hallmark is shown below at right. Her thimbles that I've seen are usually hand-signed, either C. Adell or Carrie Adell.
More information about her life and work can be found at the Patina Gallery (Santa Fe, NM) website and at her daughter, Jo Adell's website, knot-working.com. Jo is also an accomplished jewelry-artist.

Found the thimble.

The Denver Evening Post
30 April 1897, col. E.

Death sets a Thing significant.

Death sets a Thing significant
The Eye had hurried by
Except a perished Creature
Entreat us tenderly

To ponder little Workmanships
In Crayon, or in Wool,
With "This was last Her fingers did" --
Industrious until --

The Thimble weighed too heavy --
The stitches stopped -- by themselves --
And then 'twas put among the Dust
Upon the Closet shelves --

A Book I have -- a friend gave --
Whose Pencil -- here and there --
Had notched the place that pleased Him --
At Rest -- His fingers are --

Now -- when I read -- I read not --
For interrupting Tears --
Obliterate the Etchings
Too Costly for Repairs.

--Emily Dickinson

Beautiful gold-with-turquoise thimbles sold on eBay.

19th century gold and turquoise thimble.
US$495.00; 7 bids, starting at US$50.00.
11 June 2007.
19th century gold thimble with pearls and turquoise cabochons and dimpled carnelian top.
GBP245.88 (approx. US$500.81); 18 bids, starting at GBP 0.99.
31 July 2007. 19th century gold thimble with many turquoise cabochons.
Reserve not met: Highest Bid*: US $536.00; 2 bids.
17 June 2007.

Of course, on eBay, it's really the second highest bid plus whatever roundish increment they add on, up to the highest bidder's bid.

Why She Wore a Thimble.

(Click to enlarge)
Jeanne Murray Walker.
The Midwest Quarterly 38.4 (Summer 1997): p. 392 (1).

Ris-tu?

In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it shall be as if all of the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night.
--Antoine de St. Exupéry
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can come to any good.

--W.H.Auden
The most I ever did for you, was to outlive you,
But that is much.
-- Edna St. Vincent Millay

It's so like me to keep up with the latest fads.

The Milwaukee Sentinel, 12 January 1898; pg. 4; col. G.

Not that kind of Tattoo.

This little thimble is a souvenir of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo (£2.99, plus S/H).

So what is the Edinburgh Military Tattoo? It's a performance by various military regiments from all over the world, held at Edinburgh Castle. Marching and drumming and bagpiping and so forth. It has sold out for the last several years. It is a magnificent spectacle to behold.

I am not a big fan of American-style parades or football half-time shows. I particularly don't care for marching bands. One bunch of high school/college trombonists swaying back and forth to any of the twelve different songs they ever play looks pretty much like any other bunch of marching trombonists. I realize they have to practice a lot and march in unison and spell out "Go Wildcats" with rogue baton twirlers and all that, but, please. . . enough already.

Anyway, the 2007 Edinburgh Military Tattoo starts today and ends the 25th of August. It is incredibly wonderful.

Fingerhüter

Fingerhüter
Christoph Weigel, ca. 1700.