Hundreds of British designs, some registered, others patented have been subsequently produced in the following 200 years of Sir Edward Thomason's patent. As you can imagine, some good, some bad & some decidedly awful & pretty hopeless at removing a cork.
The British, French, Germans, Italians & Americans have been quite prolific in design & manufacturer. Between these Countries there are several hundred recorded pieces, many of which are covered on this site www.corkscrewcollecting.com. The Dutch are renowned for quality silver pocket corkscrews. Scandinavian Countries are well known for producing many very nice figural type corkscrews, primarily in pewter. Other Countries have manufactured corkscrews too but no great design comes to mind that should be included within this website. Maybe someone can email me & put me right.
What about the history of the corkscrew collector? I'm sure people collected corkscrews many years ago but in recent times, post the 1970's, the hobby has become increasingly popular. The advent of a variety of well written & very informative books on the subject have opened eyes to the shear diversity of what was made & what potentially is out there to find. In recent times more & more collectors have joined the growing ranks of corkscrew hunters. The Internet revolution has no doubt made it much easier to find & purchase corkscrews & collectors from all around the World now have a relaxed & familiar environment to find additions to their collection by gazing at a computer screen in their own homes. We never had it so good!
A corkscrew collector is known a "Helixophile". I don't personally like the name, I prefer to just be told I'm screwy - which is certainly true!
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