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Chap. XVI.
MUSEUM: AGE OF BRONZE.
239
space of time. I had the good luck to procure some
specimens, one of which retained the mould in a similar
manner to these I now mention.
The contents of a smith’s shop are very curious,
comprising not only the tools he used and the articles he
fabricated, but many of his moulds, together with heaps
of broken, worn-out bronze, about to be melted down for
re-casting.
Let us first glance over the domestic implements,
previous to examining those of warlike use. We will
give precedence, as is due, to womankind, who really
appear to have been, in these remote ages, perfectly
supplied with all the necessary wants of the
worktable, scissors alone excepted. Of needles in bone and
bronze we have many—some without eyes ; these were
used only to perforate, the thread being drawn through
by tweezers; others have the eye pierced through the
centre, and some, the later ones, at one end, like those
manufactured in the present day. They are not quite as
fine as Mr. Kirby’s ne plus ultra diamond-drilled eyed;
but recollect in those times “ thread 1300 yards for 3c?.”
was not, and Scandinavian ladies darned their Vikings’
winter stockings, if they wore any, with the sinews of
beasts, or narrow strips of hide, like those used by
Queen Dido when purchasing the land for the site of
Carthage. The same cabinet contains a golden needle,
the only one in the collection. Stilettos for piercing holes
in the “ broderie Scandinavaise ” are also common, as
well as bodkins and pincettes or tweezers, such as we still
see in foreign dressing-cases. Only last week I was
introduced by Conferentsraad Thomsen to a pair of
these latter articles, in solid gold, which had just been
forwarded, and were about to be valued at the Mint,
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