This 'thing' has really been bugging me. Seemed like it should be something 'personal', so went through and tossed out the ideas of........
Boothook
Buttonhook
'Clasp' for holding a cape closed (through button holes, think old style sweater clip)
Hook for lacing boots
and then this thought came to me......could it be a 'toothpick' ??
Obviously small enough to be discreet, has a hooked shape similar to
a couple of the examples below and it really isn't large/strong enough to be useful in many other ways.
http://elitechoice.org/tag/antique/page/6/"A small solid gold implement reckoned as the combination of toothpick and earwax spoon was identified while looking for a marooned Spanish galleon Santa Margarita that sank in a 1622 hurricane. Blue Water Ventures officials disclosed that divers discovered this 385-year-old toothpick after diving in 22 feet below the surface and 40 miles west of Key West. It is expected to be valued at more than $100,000.
Archaeologists believe this 3-inch-wide; 17th-century grooming tool was almost certainly worn on a gold chain."
http://www.orkney-antiques.co.uk/items/751044/item751044store.html"This is a stunning Victorian combination Vesta or matchsafe, dating to around 1876, & containing a Sovereign holder, a stamp holder, a propelling pencil, & a toothpick or cigar piercer."
http://www.derby.gov.uk/LeisureCulture/MuseumsGalleries/TudorToothpickEarscoop.htm"A 16 - 17 Century silver toothpick / earscoop. The sickle shaped pick - bent out of shape - emerges from the body of a stylised dragon and the earscoop from the mouth as if it were the dragons tongue. The body of the dragon is marked with scales. At the top of the body is a suspension loop."
http://www.silvercollection.it/pagina198.html"this is an Edwardian retracting silver toothpick made in Birmingham in 1909 by silversmith W.V.&S.
The small case containing the retracting device is fully engraved with floral motifs. It is 1 1/2 in. long (cm. 4) when closed and 2 in. when opened (cm. 5)."
http://www.georgianindex.net/gent/quizzing_glass.html"Silver toothpicks were commonly carried in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. They could be quite elaborate with a jewel on the end like the example shone here."
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/cachetantiques/item/CA854Toothpick brooch.
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/chainsawchuck/item/01508"Of elephant ivory, 1 5/16" closed, 2 13/16" fully opened. Three long triangular picks swing out at one end for light-duty after-dinner mop-up, the other end is mounted with a heavier stationary carved claw for dealing with serious clean-up.
180 years ago, unless you were a peasant working the fields, using a straw or a whittled twig wasn't considered proper hygienic etiquette when prying old sweetmeats from your dentures. A person with any class at all would always have one of these nifty little gizmos in a waistcoat pocket!
Instead of being hand-sawn, a shaped steel punch was used to cut the handles and the three picks from a thin sheet of ivory (as can be deduced when using magnification to view the slightly crushed edges of these parts). Since the hooked and pinned spacer at one end was too thick to punch, it was shaped with a traditional jeweler's saw."
http://www.bexfield.co.uk/98/1pistol1.htm"Victorian silver "pistol" toothpick..
Made by Sampson Mordan, circa 1850. Length 1.25" (4cm)."
Price £345.00
