Earth To Cogar, in the 19th century, buckets were a BIG DEAL, indispensable really around the farm.
Cogar to down to Earth, ….. uh, …… I meant ....... Cogar to Jacon4.
Shur nuff, buckets were a BIG DEAL around the homestead/farmstead …. up through the 19th Century and into the early 20th Century, ……. especially water buckets, well buckets and milk buckets.
The ole saying “
kick the bucked” surely originated due to the milk cow kicking the milk bucket over and spilling the milk. I have witnessed that happening myself.
And whenever or wherever there was a bucket being used around those early households there was also surely a “bench” or ”shelf” for sitting buckets on.
And iffen you had a hand-pump on your water well you didn‘t need a “well bucket” or a shelf at the well to sit it on ........... because you could “hang” you water bucket on the spout of the pump when pumping water, …… which is why the top of the spouts were made like pictured below, ……..
Here is one person’s thoughts about “bucket benches”, to wit:
In the days before indoor plumbing was available just about everywhere, the bucket bench played an important role in people’s lives. A bucket bench was typically a wooden bench that was placed on the porch or outside of the summer kitchen. On it sat buckets of well-drawn water that could be carried inside to have quick access to water for doing dishes, cleaning the home, and cooking meals.
A common practice was for the man of the household to keep the buckets filled and easily accessible for their wives to complete the indoor tasks that required water. Throughout the day, when the buckets were depleted of water, they were replenished with water from the well in order to keep the household supplied.
Read more @ http://www.aprimitiveplace.org/Bucket-Benches.html
And Jacon4, iffen you prefer calling your pictured item a “
19th Century bucket bench”, …… go for it, whatever “turns your crank” ….. is OK with me.
But now, I just hafta tell you, ……
I was, and still am, having quite a problem “visualizing” your pictured item sitting on the back porch or in the kitchen area of a 19th Century home/house …… with all kinds of different sizes (heights n’ widths) of wooden buckets sitting on those narrow shelves …… where “
one (1) size shelf fits all size buckets”.
Now this'un here looks like a “bucket bench” ta me, to wit:
And ps, very few items during that era were sold in “buckets”, tin or wood. Most “loose” retail items were delivered to the retailer via “large bulk” packaging ………. and retailers sold those items in “small bulk” quantities, …… wrapped in brown paper, in cloth bags or in containers, ...... more often than not, the container(s) supplied by the customer.
You "younguns" should spend a little time watching those old TV "westerns", .... in a 19th Century setting, .... with cowboys, Calvary, Indians, homesteaders ......
and General Store retailers, ..... aka. Gunsmoke, Little House on the Prairie, etc., .... to get a learned impression of "historically correct" life and living in that era.
cheers