Black Round Metal Spike Candle Holder Pillar Candle Plate

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For toy candle-holders, use TOY (and put ‘candle holder’ in the classification field). PAS object classifications to use Saucer-type candle-holders were certainly in use in the 17th century, when they had flat projecting handles like little frying pans; we do not have any of this type yet identified on the PAS database, but there is a mid 18th century illustration of one in the British Museum. When Alfred and his father Æthelwulf travelled to Rome in the 850s, among their gifts to the Pope was “a gilded silver candle-holder in the Saxon style”. So early-medieval candle-holders did apparently exist, but we don’t have any yet recorded on the PAS database. Perhaps they were all as large as this one in Essen Cathedral, made c. 1000 AD. Medieval candle-holders Examples on the PAS database include fragments of shaft SF-DB9EE4, KENT-CA9970 and IOW-5D55C5. No detached legs have yet been identified. A second, very distinctive type of tripod folding candle-holder was made in Limoges. They have three separately made curved legs, with loops at one end which are threaded onto the bottom of the candle-holder’s shaft. These were either spread out to support the candle-holder while standing, or swung round to make a more compact shape for travelling or storage. The legs are decorated with enamelled pseudo-heraldic devices, and several have been recorded on the PAS database; see SF-417281 for a list. Put ‘Limoges style’ in the Classification field.

Bases from late medieval or early post-medieval candle-holders (c. 1450-1700 AD) were made separately, and are not nearly so easy to recognise or to date precisely. Brownsword (1985) does give some useful hints on dating bases, but fragments will always be difficult. In addition, fragments of candle-holder base may be difficult to tell apart from fragments of bell, or of the bases of small vessels such as ewers or chafing dishes. Three candle-holders with surviving bases, all of late medieval or early post-medieval date. Left to right: LIN-249D46, SWYOR-4DC433, SOMDOR-9F8701. Later post-medieval candle-holdersZoomorphic copper-alloy candle-holders are come in two variants. One is quite naturalistic, but the other (the Geraardsbergen type) is a tripod form where the three legs are formed into the shapes of animal heads and front legs. Adjustable candle-holders are flimsy and small, and are made from several pieces. When recording one, put ‘adjustable’ in the Classification field. Two simple adjustable candle-holders. Left, DOR-11C892; right, WILT-21F000. Late medieval or early post-medieval candle-holders

A screw thread on the shaft of the ejector helps to identify an object as an ejector, but if this is missing then the general shape of the object and its size (15-25mm wide) can help. The holes tend to be bevelled on one face and with right-angled edges on the other, and there is often a short flaring collar between the trefoil and the shaft. One was found in a 16th-century context in London ( Egan 2005, 81, no. 337) and another in a pit with early 16th century pottery in Winchester ( Rees et al 2008, no. 1799). Two Norwich finds came from the levels of the 1507 fire ( Margeson 1993, 83-4, nos. 537-8), so a date-range of 1450-1550 seems appropriate. Candle-holders of Bunsen burner type. From left: SOM-619B4B, DEV-AF2114, SWYOR-EC45A9, SF-3DBCE5, LVPL-417C75 (cast in one piece). 16th- or 17th-century candle-holders There are two main types of tripod candle-holder with folding or collapsible legs. The first has a slender cast shaft decorated with knops with cast cross-hatched grooves, and ending in three pierced lugs. The lugs would originally have had three hinged legs attached to them, which could be folded up for storage or travelling, or unfolded for use. Use ‘folding’ in the Classification field.Medieval candle-holders come in several highly standardised forms. Unfortunately there are a lot of folding or collapsible candle-holders, and several which have a tripod foot, and more than one zoomorphic type. It is therefore useful to have standard terms in the Classification field for the commoner types.