View Full Version : Small leather beakers.
Bardster
08-12-2005, 23:49
Here we have some small leather beakers. 4" high and 3" diameter. Wax sealed and will hold most liquids.
http://www.probetech.co.uk/beaker.jpg
£10 each
ONE SOLD
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That is very cool, Bardster! I once saw a leather mug in the Jorvik viking centre, in York, but it didn't look like it'd been sealed with anything, and I was scared it might make my drinks taste beefy. :) Is it the vikings that gave you the idea, or was it common in saxon and later times, too?
Bardster
09-12-2005, 14:31
That is very cool, Bardster! I once saw a leather mug in the Jorvik viking centre, in York, but it didn't look like it'd been sealed with anything, and I was scared it might make my drinks taste beefy. :) Is it the vikings that gave you the idea, or was it common in saxon and later times, too?
Unfortunately leather doesn't survive very well in the acheological record. There are lots of finds of shoes, boots and scabbards but not many of drinking vessels. There is some documentary evidence though for the use of leather cups with silver rims in early Saxon times. In fact one was found in the Sutton Hoo burial. The leather costels or bottles as far as I am aware have never been found. But there is a pottery costrel in an Irish museum, from I think the 12th Century. The interesting thing about it is it has stitch marks on it as though it had been made from leather!
Another interest fact is that an Anglo-Saxon costrel maker was called a Homer :)
Bard
brucemacdonald
24-12-2005, 14:52
My leather cup is sealed with brewer's pitch. The pitch is poured in and worked to the lip of the cup.
Nice work in the photo.
Would these be ok for drinking hot liquids? Or cold liquids only? Or alternatively, what wax are they sealed with?
Bardster
25-12-2005, 21:35
Would these be ok for drinking hot liquids? Or cold liquids only? Or alternatively, what wax are they sealed with?
In answer to your questions, there aren't really any good for hot liquids. The wax or pitch melts :) They are proof against the majority of cold liquids though. Beeswax, which is what I use, seems proof against almost any cold beverage.
I like the look of those. I tried to get a friend one for christmas but were I looked they had sold out. Are there still any up for grabs?