Not a rolling pin...

[arthurk]

Can anyone tell me what this is, please? It's varnished wood, with the owner's name stamped and gilded, and as you can see from the lower picture, the end stoppers come out to give access to a hollow interior. This doesn't go right through - the compartment behind the narrow stopper (on the left) is about 8.5" (21cm) deep, and the one on the other end is about 1.5" (4cm) deep.

The man whose name is on it lived 1830-1906 in Otley, WRY; he was a textile mill owner and prominent in one of the local chapels. It has been suggested to me that this item would have been used to hold some kind of scroll, but I'm not convinced. Any other ideas?

Arthur

[alpinecottage]

I've no idea what it is - interesting that the knob of the smaller stopper is  small and the other is larger - ruins the symmetry of "the thing"

But my suggestion is that you search the British Newspaper Archive/ Findmypast or the Gale Newspaper Archive (possibly accessible through your local library service) for his name and dates from say 1860-1906 in Yorkshire newspapers.  There may well be a report of a presentation, and it may say what he was presented with.

[Mike in Cumbria]

A scroll tube doesn't sound a bad suggestion. Alternatively, it could have been used to carry some sort of delicate instrument, maybe a thermometer or hygrometer or something of that sort.

Mike

[Mike in Cumbria]

Oops, I hadn't read it properly - the two compartments would seem to rull out a scroll tube.

[alpinecottage]

But a carrying case for some 2-part instrument seems possible.  I have something much, much smaller for carrying sewing needles.

[arthurk]

Thanks for the ideas - keep them coming!

I'd wondered about a container for something in two parts, such as some kind of pen holder and a selection of nibs, but the inside shows no sign of ink or any other kind of stain, so maybe he thought it was too nice to use - or it was something else entirely.

I think the person who suggested scrolls to me meant it was for holding/anchoring them while they were unrolled and read, but the pegs and holes seem a strange way of doing that, and would no doubt damage the scroll as well. Also, why different size pegs and different lengths of compartment?

Arthur

[copperbeech5]

Hi,

I keep wondering if it were a piece of kit for someone who wrote parchment documents, so that the parchment were weighed down whilst being written on, and then rolled round the main thing to travel, and the nibs were stored in one end, and the quills were stored in the other - so it made a tidy and portable kit?

Best wishes,
Copperbeech5

[Greensleeves]

Sounds a feasible suggestion but where would they keep the ink? And if it is an object used in conjunction with the writing of scrolls, I would have expected it to have at least a few ink splashes on it.  I wonder if it has any religious significance.

[Maggie.]

A wild shot it the dark here but could it be a Masonic artefact?

Maggie