For Whom The Bell Tinkles .... Part 2

Where was I ... back to the chat (here) from the other day about the series Downton Abbey and the vintage 'visual feast' that it is:

And to me, the depth of this vintage visual world they have created is most apparent in the servants quarters.

We still access beautiful antiques in the modern world ... in specialist museums ... auctions catalogues ... images online ... and if we are lucky enough - to own some.  However, the servants lives represent the true remnants of an other era that is long gone.

It's in their conversations and the rooms they inhabit and the objects they touch.  Removing stains on clothes with 'crystals'; metal hand-wound meat grinders; stoking wood-fired ovens and stove plates; boiling water in iron stove-top kettles;

... that brilliant long utilitarian table that's in nearly every scene in the servants hall...

... and those delicious bells tinkling in the opening credits.  Such a pretty sound ... but probably not so pretty if you are the person for whom the bells tinkle!

So when I was at an auction the other week and spied a working servant's bell in the bottom of a box lot, I just had to have a bid.  Nothing of note in the rest of the box, but this was what I wanted.  All still working prettily, with the large spring working, and the smaller tension spring still intact.

So now it's in the shop, just waiting for a new home, to start a new life tinkling: ... a shop door? a front door?

Or perhaps the servant's bell in your house needs replacing?  I know mine does.  I ring and I ring .... and yet no one comes ...

Jennifer.

{images via ITV.com and Vintage Finds}