Late Victorian to Early 1900s Brass Holy Water Aspergillum in a Dump? Restored It.

[RatherBeDigging]

Occasionally, I accidentally find dump spots while detecting. This one has been really interesting and there will be a separate post on it at somepoint. The last thing I expected to find hanging out with the broken china, glass and slick medicine bottles was a brass aspergillum. It has a unique concentric ring pattern on top and hole pattern that is similar to one that came out of a church in France which was dated by the dealer as late 1800s early 1900s. Guess it got imported to the US. It still had its cork and twine plugging the handle so the sphere didn't leak into the handle. It's replaced with a more durable silicone stopper. Naturally I had to get it back to working order... The handle I bought , a turned rosewood beer tap handle. The cylinder linking the brass wand to the handle was my own invention. All I need to do now is track down a brass nail small enough it fits the pinhole in the wand's side to fully secure it to the wood core. Otherwise, someone may get a holy headache.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Looks great - nice job !

 

[billb]

Nice work
Congratulations

 

[pepperj]

Occasionally, I accidentally find dump spots while detecting. This one has been really interesting and there will be a separate post on it at somepoint. The last thing I expected to find hanging out with the broken china, glass and slick medicine bottles was a brass aspergillum. It has a unique concentric ring pattern on top and hole pattern that is similar to one that came out of a church in France which was dated by the dealer as late 1800s early 1900s. Guess it got imported to the US. It still had its cork and twine plugging the handle so the sphere didn't leak into the handle. It's replaced with a more durable silicone stopper. Naturally I had to get it back to working order... The handle I bought , a turned rosewood beer tap handle. The cylinder linking the brass wand to the handle was my own invention. All I need to do now is track down a brass nail small enough it fits the pinhole in the wand's side to fully secure it to the wood core. Otherwise, someone may get a holy headache.

Nice results.
Would a tiny brass screw work?
I do have some real tiny ones.

 

[oldmxrat]

That's so cool, nice job!

 

[RatherBeDigging]

Nice results.
Would a tiny brass screw work?
I do have some real tiny ones.

Thank you. Probably. Hole isn't countersunk so I'd either have to do it or just use a round head screw.

 

[Almy]

That's really interesting to me. I have been an Anglican participant and layreader for many years, and have attended many Roman Catholic services, but had not heard the term "aspergillum" before. Thank you for increasing my awareness. If I had found it, I likely would not have recognized what it was.
I like your restoration!

 

[RatherBeDigging]

That's really interesting to me. I have been an Anglican participant and layreader for many years, and have attended many Roman Catholic services, but had not heard the term "aspergillum" before. Thank you for increasing my awareness. If I had found it, I likely would not have recognized what it was.
I like your restoration!

Thank you. At first I was like what kind of weird hose nozzle is this?? Had an inkling it was a holy water wand having gone to catholic high school. They had a display of religious antiques at the back of the chapel.

 

[Digger RJ]

Occasionally, I accidentally find dump spots while detecting. This one has been really interesting and there will be a separate post on it at somepoint. The last thing I expected to find hanging out with the broken china, glass and slick medicine bottles was a brass aspergillum. It has a unique concentric ring pattern on top and hole pattern that is similar to one that came out of a church in France which was dated by the dealer as late 1800s early 1900s. Guess it got imported to the US. It still had its cork and twine plugging the handle so the sphere didn't leak into the handle. It's replaced with a more durable silicone stopper. Naturally I had to get it back to working order... The handle I bought , a turned rosewood beer tap handle. The cylinder linking the brass wand to the handle was my own invention. All I need to do now is track down a brass nail small enough it fits the pinhole in the wand's side to fully secure it to the wood core. Otherwise, someone may get a holy headache.

Nice!!! Congrats!!!