I purchased this one from a wonderful dealer in my neck of the woods who shares my love for humble and tender old things, and from whom i've purchased many favorites. And really, in what world could I resist an old yarn ball made by "Grandma Ruby" with a pebble filled goose gullet rattle inside?!! (The gullet, or esophogus, of a goose features an area that can stretch to hold some food before it moves into their stomach and gizzard; I presume that's what's inside here, unless the writer, understandably, conflated gullet and gizzard.)
One sees (especially in Pennsylvania) antique sewing "pin balls" made in this manner, but this one, as noted by the writer of the note, to whom it was gifted "when I was perhaps 3 or 4 yrs old, no older," was used for playing "catch ball" at school. And the writer of the note took the extra step of running an (almost) matching red thread through the netting on the ball itself so that the note would stay with it. In a world where everyone seems to be a dealer these days, I've been thinking about the kinds of things I am forever searching for, and they are objects, like this, for which there are no "comps" out there to be found (and so which are, to me anyway, priceless!)
Ball approx 2 1/8" d. Note 5" x 3". Good condition, with a few losses to the exterior orange and red "netting" on the yarn ball, but it is very sound and stable and not at all fragile. Great rattle too.
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