Big Boys Hobbies

Crotal bell dating question

Tom_in_CA

Tom_in_CA

Elite Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Messages
20,794
For you east coast relic guys, I know you frequently get crotal bells. And, Go figure, they're found in Europe all the time.

We get them occasionally here in CA too (assuming we're at the earliest of sites here). So my question is : What is the usual accepted date range of them ? Ie.: When did they fade out of use ?

And is there any rhyme or reason to the various individual looks of them, that allow someone to venture a date to an individual one ?

Here's one my buddy got yesterday. We were looking for the supposed site of an 1870s to 1890s picnic site. Near the CA gold rush country foothills. We never found that, but he did get this random crotal bell. Any input on it would be helpful. Thanx. And : disregard the cattle bell in the picture next to it .
 

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Sorry Tom, all I found was not crotal bells, Expecting 10+ inches of the white stuff in the next few days, Don't you miss it, or never saw it ?
too_
 
Well Tom, I'll take a stab at this one. I'm by no means a crotal bell expert, but have learned a little from finding a few myself. There is a chance some of this info is not completely accurate, its been awhile since I've done research on this subject. It's my understanding that most crotal bells faded away when automobiles were invented, so shortly after 1900. I can't tell you how early they were around though, as I've read conflicting reports. I've found some really old looking ones that I thought for sure were colonial, but could never confirm it. Seems they were mostly used between 1850 and 1900 (very rough date range) but some across the pond much earlier. So my guess is some were brought over by first settlers in the U.S. Some had initials on them, numbers to represent different sizes, and hand etched designs on them. I assume this one is completely blank? I find the older ones look crude, the attachment hole not perfectly circular, and the "mouth" not completely uniform.
 
I found this Tom:
The majority of crotal bells were made from about 1845 to about 1920.
Click to expand...

www.army.mil

Fort McCoy ArtiFACT: Crotal bell

“Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling, too. Come on, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.” The opening lyrics t...
www.army.mil www.army.mil
 
cellrdwellr said:
...... I assume this one is completely blank? I find the older ones look crude, the attachment hole not perfectly circular, and the "mouth" not completely uniform.
Click to expand...

Great info cellrdwellr. Thanx. Yes it has no designs on it, and yes it's not "crude" type. I saw the "early" types (and design etchings & maker-initial types) that they find in Europe, from super early times. And it's simply a "given" that we're not going to get those in CA. Hence this is post industrial revolution uniformity. So I was just more interested in the latest potential dating.

Digalicious said:
I found this Tom:
Click to expand...

Thanx ! Excellent info. Since the explanation is for : The days of horse travel (ie.: pre-Auto - age), then that makes sense. Since there were actually still some people using horses well into the teens. So I can see how they muse that it could be till even as late as ".... about 1920".

The Rebel said:
Nice find Tom, if if ask it nicely it might go on a date with you, lol.

This site is very informative, https://www.rodblunt.com/crotal-bells
Click to expand...

Thanx T-R. That's a great site for dating the tell-tale earlier ones. But doesn't concern itself much with how long the later ones persisted into modern usage. It has some good info about the crude vs uniform (pre vs post industrial revolution), as for the look and feel of the moulding, etc... Thanx !

And as for dating them : Yeah, some guys like dating crotal bells. And to others : Crotal bells are really *their type*. :shrug: To each his own, eh ? :aok: But for those of us who are trying to date them : Solf romantic music, low lights, a bottle of wine, watch a romantic movie, etc.... Eh ? :friends:
 
In December of 1847, a Dairy farmer in NJ named James was doing the morning count of his herd and noticed one of his best Jerseys was running away though a gate he forgot to close. He grabbed the closest Lasso he could find and ran after the cow. He kept losing sight of the cow because of the rolling terrain but kept following the faint tinkle of it's bell. He thought to himself, "I'm glad I bought all those Crotal Bells from Tom", who was a traveling Crotal Bell salesman from Bellingham Massachusetts. At the end of the first day's chase, he caught site of his cow's silhouette against the setting Sun and noticed they were heading due West. As the Sun went down and it became dark, he no longer heard the sound of the tinkling bell and figured the cow had stopped moving to rest for the night. James, who was also tired from chasing the cow all day, decided to settle down for the night and start a fire to stay warm. He groped around in the darkness and gathered up some dry grass and small twigs to start a fire when it dawned on him that he had nothing to start a fire on him. He heard the sound of footsteps approaching and in the moonlight, could see a native with a string of fresh trout over his shoulder. He asked the native, "Got a light?" while pointing at his pile of grass and sticks. The native nodded and proceeded to rub two of the sticks together until they ignited the grass. While the native was starting the fire, James was looking at the fish and thought how good one of those would taste cooked over an open fire. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a New Jersey Copper coin and pointed at the fish lying on the ground. The native nodded and handed James a trout. As the native was walking away he looked at the strange copper disk he was given, shrugged his shoulders and tossed it into the forest thinking "Kaka".
James was awakened the next morning by the tinkle of the bell and started chasing his cow again. This went on for days which turned into weeks. He noticed the daytime temperature was getting much warmer the further he got from home and the more angry he got at the cow for running from him. Finally on the last day while making his way out of a steep rocky ravine he saw his cow standing about fifty feet away. At this point James was furious at the cow and decided to try and knock it out with a well placed rock. He bent down, picked up what he thought was an abnormally heavy gold colored rock, threw it at the cow only to miss it's head and knock the Crotal Bell from it's collar. He picked up another heavy gold colored rock and this time hit the cow behind it's ear. The cow fell to the ground dead and James thought to himself, "I'm going to gather some of these strange deadly rocks and bring them home in case more cows decide to run away!" On his long journey home, he stopped in different towns for lunch and dinner while paying with large one cent copper coins. Almost everyone he met during meals was a farmer like himself and the talk often was about unruly cows. He showed the strange gold colored rocks to the farmers while telling his story about how these rocks could stop a cow in it's tracks. They asked where he found them and he drew maps for them on napkins. James often found himself alone before finishing his meals and whenever he walked outside would notice clouds of dust heading West.
That' a great find !! 👍
 
Tom_in_CA said:
For you east coast relic guys, I know you frequently get crotal bells. And, Go figure, they're found in Europe all the time.

We get them occasionally here in CA too (assuming we're at the earliest of sites here). So my question is : What is the usual accepted date range of them ? Ie.: When did they fade out of use ?

And is there any rhyme or reason to the various individual looks of them, that allow someone to venture a date to an individual one ?

Here's one my buddy got yesterday. We were looking for the supposed site of an 1870s to 1890s picnic site. Near the CA gold rush country foothills. We never found that, but he did get this random crotal bell. Any input on it would be helpful. Thanx. And : disregard the cattle bell in the picture next to it .
Click to expand...
Most of the bells I have found here in Connecticut were from sites that are pre 1890
 
mudwhale said:
In December of 1847, a Dairy farmer in NJ named James was doing the morning count of his herd and noticed one of his best Jerseys was running away though a gate he forgot to close. He grabbed the closest Lasso he could find and ran after the cow. He kept losing sight of the cow because of the rolling terrain but kept following the faint tinkle of it's bell. He thought to himself, "I'm glad I bought all those Crotal Bells from Tom", who was a traveling Crotal Bell salesman from Bellingham Massachusetts. At the end of the first day's chase, he caught site of his cow's silhouette against the setting Sun and noticed they were heading due West. As the Sun went down and it became dark, he no longer heard the sound of the tinkling bell and figured the cow had stopped moving to rest for the night. James, who was also tired from chasing the cow all day, decided to settle down for the night and start a fire to stay warm. He groped around in the darkness and gathered up some dry grass and small twigs to start a fire when it dawned on him that he had nothing to start a fire on him. He heard the sound of footsteps approaching and in the moonlight, could see a native with a string of fresh trout over his shoulder. He asked the native, "Got a light?" while pointing at his pile of grass and sticks. The native nodded and proceeded to rub two of the sticks together until they ignited the grass. While the native was starting the fire, James was looking at the fish and thought how good one of those would taste cooked over an open fire. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a New Jersey Copper coin and pointed at the fish lying on the ground. The native nodded and handed James a trout. As the native was walking away he looked at the strange copper disk he was given, shrugged his shoulders and tossed it into the forest thinking "Kaka".
James was awakened the next morning by the tinkle of the bell and started chasing his cow again. This went on for days which turned into weeks. He noticed the daytime temperature was getting much warmer the further he got from home and the more angry he got at the cow for running from him. Finally on the last day while making his way out of a steep rocky ravine he saw his cow standing about fifty feet away. At this point James was furious at the cow and decided to try and knock it out with a well placed rock. He bent down, picked up what he thought was an abnormally heavy gold colored rock, threw it at the cow only to miss it's head and knock the Crotal Bell from it's collar. He picked up another heavy gold colored rock and this time hit the cow behind it's ear. The cow fell to the ground dead and James thought to himself, "I'm going to gather some of these strange deadly rocks and bring them home in case more cows decide to run away!" On his long journey home, he stopped in different towns for lunch and dinner while paying with large one cent copper coins. Almost everyone he met during meals was a farmer like himself and the talk often was about unruly cows. He showed the strange gold colored rocks to the farmers while telling his story about how these rocks could stop a cow in it's tracks. They asked where he found them and he drew maps for them on napkins. James often found himself alone before finishing his meals and whenever he walked outside would notice clouds of dust heading West.
That' a great find !! 👍
Click to expand...
Love it.. Thanks for the laugh.
 
I'd say 1850 - 1880. Krotal bells were around till the horse was replaced by the automobile. After 1890 or so they were mostly of the stamped brass variety.
 
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