1700's Toasting Roasting Fork Hand Forged Wrought Ir (05/29/2009)...

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1700's Toasting Roasting Fork Hand Forged Wrought Iron

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1700's Toasting Roasting Fork Hand Forged Wrought Iron

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Sold Date: 05/29/2009
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Ethnic, Folk & Native American Art

Antique small & fine handmade & hand forged wrought iron toasting & roasting fork with it's original & exceptional heart shaped wrought iron crest, it's original primitive fork tines, it's original & very pleasing chamfered edge square shaft and retaining a splendid old natural rusted & oxidized darkened original surface, as found. New England , probably Maine , 1760, possibly earlier. Guaranteed old and original; this is not a fake or reproduction. Actual weight 1/2 lbs. 10" tall by 1 3/4" wide at the fork tines. Antique small & fine handmade & hand forged wrought iron toasting & roasting fork with it's original & exceptional heart shaped wrought iron crest, it's original primitive fork tines, it's original & very pleasing chamfered edge square shaft and retaining a splendid old natural rusted & oxidized darkened original surface, as found . We found this… within the fireplace kitchen… in an old colonial cape home… that had been converted to a storage barn… attached to a Victorian barn… of a Victorian home… both built long after the original cape by the original owners of the site… who had left the colonial cape in tact and simply filled it full of family cast offs for… seven generations. This is the finest fork we have found in several decades. We are well acquainted with early toasting and roasting forks in their various forms. This one is notably… early… small… and… although a true primitive… finely made. It is an exceptional specimen of this common and much utilized colonial hearth tool. A man would poke a (literally) chunk of bread on this and toast it. Or hang a fresh sliced slab of meat on it and roast it. The cook would jab, poke, turn, stab, drag, stir, hang and all else of kitchen task with this. This one, noting again the small size and fineness, probably saw more personal cooking use then general kitchen… abuse. Old & early, as the photographs show, it is outstandingly enhanced by the heart handle crest.. Fine, notice the upper handle (particularly the back side) split of the iron to make the heart and beaten rounding to taper this split to the heart lobe tips. This same primitive crafting is repeated on the fork tines at the base. The heart, the primitive tines and the small size suggest this fork was a lover's or father's gift to a wife or child, homemade by the father on the farm Between the heart and tines is the square shaft of iron. This was the single piece of iron source of the whole fork. It is… WONDERFULLY hand beaten chamfered… on all four edges. Again… wonderfully chamfered. For the early New England wrought iron aficionado… this subtle chamfering seals and delights the authentic splendor of the tines and heart crest with this beautiful yet simple treatment of the shaft. Very good as found condition. The fork is in perfect original condition, as found. It has appropriate light surface rust & oxidation to the whole. Otherwise the fork is in perfect original as found condition with it's original natural old oxidized surface. Right out of a colonial homestead long converted to a storage building, it has appropriate surface oxidation and lightest soiling for it's age and from it's old Maine farm residence. Please see photographs. As found in an estate near Yarmouth , Maine . Seeking things fresh found in attics? Please see our other listings from this estate. This was in a colonial cape homestead that had been converted to a storage building during the Civil War era.. We have done nothing to it at all; it is just as we found it. It looks like good one to us! We offer this especially fine and early New England colonial wrought toasting & roasting fork for $325.00 NR..