Is this a corset busk or a letter opener???

I have seen short 9 1/2" busks before but this one is definitely a letter opener. There seems to be a big confusion with Ebay sellers selling letter openers and tongue depressors as busks! I need 4 old busks and always get my hopes up when I see auctions advetising busks and then when I look it's a blasted letter opener!!

Actually, busks are very hard to find. Barring ones I've seen in museums, I've only ever come across two being sold a few years back by a vintage dealer that I sometimes see at an antique fair that I go to. She no longer has them and they were only £85 each and one had scrimshaw work on it. I always regretted not buying them from her.

Lei
 
I've got two and I only need one. Both are plain wood, and the right size and shape to be busks. However I can't guarantee how old they are. I bought them, but then it seems to me like they might be newer repro. Does anyone have a way to date them? --Cheri
 
So, is this reasonably priced for a busk (if it were one), but expensive (and possibly misdated) for a letter opener? (You can tell how much I know about either type of item...)

the other "interesting" thing about this auction is that the seller boasts it has no reserve--but the high opening bid and BIN are the same, so having a reserve would make no sense anyway...
 
If it were a proper busk, I'd buy it for $95 on a BIN. They usually go for a few hundred dollars which is why I regret not buying the two I saw at the antique fair for £85 each a few years back. :(

Cheri, yours may be repros as there was a corset/costume maker selling plain wooden shaped ones until recently. It was Corset Jardiniere but their website doesn't exist anymore. I always planned on ordering a few from them to display the stays I have and the red wool 1860's corset.

Lei
 
I thought a page turner was a good novel! lol

I have to admit I thought it pretty well had to be a letter opener because if I thought it more likely to be a busk I would have grabbed it at the BIN. It just seemed to thick at the carved end to make sense. BUt just in case I thought I would ask. It never occured to me it might be a page turner! Those Victorians made a tool for every job!
 
it looks like a letter opener...but l thought some busks would be pretty short for the younger girls who wore like training corsets...anyway l think its fun trying to think of other uses... abutter pat, shaper.....a neck scratcher.??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top