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Need some help identifying this piece . Also been told it's fairly old in anyone can confirm that???????








Any help is appreciated.

Hi,
I believe some people say these were to hold handkerchiefs, others say the edge of a dress. In any case they were used at formal dances or balls.

I guess I should explain that the ring went over a finger, the other end was then locked onto the cloth by sliding the slide down.

Suppose it could be a skirt-lifter or hankie-clip, but those small ends would be pretty rough on any fabric - believe it's a ring cigarette-holder.

A close-up of the hallmarks would provide your dating, my eyes aren't very good anymore, but looks like it might be Birmingham, 1946 (or perhaps 1921).

~Cheryl

I was going to mention that they were used as "roach" clips by my generation. I believe I asked my grandmother, and may have had them with dance cards etc., in those days women didn't smoke, at least not at a danse. In any case that is why I thought they were cloth clips. Most i had were formed with two leaves as holders.
Having said that, in Objects Civils et Domestique they do show one a 19th c. one in a fitted box called a smoking necessary. in this box they have flint striker, and call it a tinder pincers.
My eyes are no better than yours, but I can't see anyone using tinder after matches were invented.
It could well be that these were used for different things at different periods.
Maurice

There were definitely skirt-lifters designed and produced (the 1876 British 'Fyfe's Patent' is well-known), most often pulled up by a cord or chain when necessary, then attached at the belt or to a chatelaine, and I suspect used more often on the streets than at dances - but this item wouldn't really be appropriate, too lightweight and too destructive to the weighty skirt fabric or the delicate material of a handkerchief - fine fabric was very dear, way back when. A skirt-lifter or hankie-clip would have little plates or discs that would clamp to the fabric, dispersing the pressure (won't even get into the other devices that would, at the pull of a cord, lift the skirt like a blind), and most of that type clamps that I've seen with finger-rings (as well as a couple with pins) have been fairly small and delicate, more likely for a handkerchief rather than for a long voluminous skirt. And ummm, won't delve into the 'roach clip' aspect, but when tending bar, I did use similar, more utilitarian clamps to hold my bar-towels at the sinks - see those show up as 'Victorian skirt-lifters' fairly often.

1936 U.S. Patent for a similar cigarette holder, with little rough extensions at the tips to light matches:



1928 clip describing a "New Cigarette-Holder":



~Cheryl

Thanks for the help .