Strange to say many of the present-day mascots in brass—and that is the favourite metal—are modelled upon amulets such as we have referred to as finding their origin in pagan faiths. There are others used by motorists, such as "Cæsar," the late King Edward's dog, the "Chantecler," and the stag's head, which have no mystic meanings; on the other hand, the most favoured are such brasses as the "star and cresent" and the "rising sun" of pagan worship of our ancestors, and "Mercury" the Greek god.
The brass mascot used in every form, large and small, by motorists and worn by many others so extensively is the "Swastika" of Buddhist fame, traceable in its varied form to Egyptian and other early nations. These mascots in brass, made in thousands to-day, are brass curios in the making; possibly in a century or so they may be classed with the oldest brass amulets described in this chapter, and so add to the metal relics to be collected by future curio-hunters!
Copper Sheathing and Nails.
Copper sheathing has been used by boat-builders and made to serve a useful purpose, protecting the ship's bottom and resisting the action of salt water. Oftentimes this valuable material—costly when new—has been used over again when vessels have been broken up, and not infrequently it is put to curious uses in old seaport towns. Visitors to an old-world village built on the side of a hill near the sea in North Cornwall, have looked with admiration upon two remarkable gateposts in front of a cottage house, and admired their quaint carvings. These relics in oak were once the ends of seats in a neighbouring parish church; but either to preserve them from injury from the village children or to give them a longer life as they would be exposed to the weather, the upper portions have been sheathed with copper from the bottom of some broken-up wreck, and large copper nails keep the casing in place. Copper and brass nails have been used for ornament as well as to resist acids and other metal-destroying chemicals. Old furniture is evidence of this; for at one time the leather covers to the chairs were almost invariably fixed by round-headed brass studs, which from that use became known in the trade as "chair nails." Such nails were used to ornament brass bellows and other domestic utensils. They were also used to "decorate" the skin-covered trunks which our ancestors took with them on their rare journeys of pleasure or business, when they travelled by the mail-coach or less expensive stage wagon. Nails of brass have been used and are still sometimes used for sadder purposes, for they are a feature in the ornament of cloth-covered coffins. That of King Edward VI was decorated (sic) with upwards of two thousand brass nails with gilt heads.
War Relics.
What wonderful antiquities are sometimes found among scraps! Years of neglect cause indifference to the contents of a scrapheap, and we read occasionally of the dispersal of relics among which, unknown to either sellers or buyers, there may be antiquities of more than passing interest if their original ownership could only be traced, for in the personal relics of great warriors in our national museums there clings a halo of hero-worship, and what to many would be considered fictitious values are attached to such curios. A few years ago the relics from the battlefield of Waterloo, which had for some time past been accumulated in a modest looking building at the foot of the Lion Mound, were dispersed. There were upwards of three thousand pieces, including helmets of brass, plates of shining metal, innumerable buttons and ornaments belonging to different French regiments, including officers' regimentals, and some relics of the British and Prussian armies. In old curio-shops many metal relics of battlefields are offered for sale, but they have little or no interest to the buyer, simply because their identity with their original owners has been lost. It is of the greatest importance to future generations of collectors that all records relating to known curios should be chronicled, and that even private collectors should hand on to their successors adequate descriptions which may have been verbally given them, so that private as well as national relics may be identified and the monetary value in such curios increased. Even a brass plate on an old gun, bearing the name of a great man, makes it a relic worth securing, whereas had the identity of ownership been missing the weapon would be of little or no value.
A visit to the United Service Museum at Westminster is full of interest. There is an abundance of personal relics there—not many of brass, it is true—many of which are of special interest. Perhaps the one of greatest historical fame is the much battered copper bugle on which it is said the signal was given for the fatal charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, resulting so disastrously to that famous regiment. There are some curious trophies of brass, too, which have been brought home by our troops; one known as "Jingling Johnny" is of special interest.
Tiny Curios.
At one time there was quite a rage for miniatures in metal-work. Artists in copper and brass vied with one another in working microscopically. They were very fond of making use of some recognized piece of metal, the size, weight, and substance of which was well understood by the public; hence the difficulties of manipulating the works of art they produced would be realized. Thus, out of a copper farthing, a worker in metal would with very tiny hammers and a still smaller soldering-iron and miniature blow-pipe, fashion a complete copper teakettle with a tiny spout out of which liquid could be poured, a loose lid, a correctly formed knob, and a beautifully shaped handle. Another would make a similar kettle out of a similar piece of metal, and leave some portion of the farthing, perhaps the date, uninjured as the central ornament on the side of the kettle, or on the top of the handle; others would add a stand, like the then fashionable toddy-kettles and stands. In a similar way other little domestic utensils were made by the worker in copper, who used watchmakers' hammers and tools such as jewellers employed in the setting of precious stones. A collector at one time had in his possession a beautifully shaped coffee boiler of the type used on the open fire when coffee was boiled and afterwards allowed to stand on the hob for some time before it was deemed sufficiently brewed. Another charming miniature novelty was a brass stool, perforated, and made to revolve just as the larger toasting stool once common in every fireplace. Fenders and fire-brasses were favourite objects for miniature metal ornaments, and the way in which the skilled worker manipulated the copper "sheets" hammered out by hand from small coins showed mastery of the craft and great patience. Such little objects were frequently displayed on the "parlour" table under a glass shade, the woodworker being sometimes requisitioned to make a stand, possibly a canopied top, on which to show off to the best advantage these tiny ornaments.
In the same way the engraver of brass and copper worked under a strong lens, and sought to produce whole texts of Scripture and quite long inscriptions on an almost impossibly small surface. These little pieces of metal were worn as charms, and similar objects were displayed as trophies. Many of our readers have seen no doubt the whole of the Lord's Prayer or the Ten Commandments engraved on a threepenny-piece or a copper farthing. It is said such microscopic engraving took its rise in the reign of Charles II when Thomas Simon, a noted engraver of the Mint, engraved in double lines on his famous "Petition Crown" a petition to the king. Specimens of the crown are very rare, and are regarded as the scarcest treasures in a numismatic cabinet.