Ooh la la...
One of the few corkscrews to be known as collectible outside of corkscrew collecting circles are the ladies legs corkscrews. These colourful, quirky pocket corkscrews were primarily made from Celluloid, a durable synthetic plastic.
They originate from Germany. Registered as a design in January 1894, registration number 21718, by Steinfield & Reimer, although it is recorded that they were manufactured in Germany before the registered date & as early as the 1880's. Ladies legs corkscrews were manufactured up until to the 1920's.
Interestingly, in January 1893 Ladies legs corkscrews were also registered in the UK by F. W. Ostermann of East London, no 206442. A ladies legs corkscrew has so far not been found with a British registration number mark.
Trade ads for ladies legs corkscrews, advertised "Ballet corkscrews" or "Can-can corkscrews", probably in the later example for the bright, vibrant colours of the stripy stockings.
There are a vast number of variations of colours, type & makers marks, more later. For now, the basic variations which are most often found.
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