Something to make your hair curl.

As a coincidence to the last blog, and in continuance of my “finds from the plot” series, here's a find I didn't post last time, shown in the pictures. The reason being, was that I had no idea what it was or whether it had any age to speak of.

It is made of a similar material to that of clay pipes and has a makers mark on the end, “WB” under a crown.



At first I thought I it was quite modern, a porcelain switch handle maybe, and then wondered if it was some kind of stamp for pottery making.

After a bit of research I have eventually tracked it down, and it turns out to be an 18th century Wig Curler, dating to around 1750. Or more correctly, half of one, the other end would have been exactly the same.

It seems they were used to curl wigs in Georgian days, by tightly curling the hair around them, dampening the wig, and then baking in an oven.

Apparently, the wearing of false hair, or “periwigs” reached its peak in France and England during the 17th and 18th centuries, and a great variety were for sale, together with the necessary accompaniments of a wig stand and wig curlers.


These curlers were made from pipe clay, some being hollow to allow heat to penetrate, and it is thought that they were made by pipe makers. The WB stamp is by far the most common of those found.

They are also found in America, for example on an archaeological dig at Ferry Farm, George Washingtons’s boyhood home, and here is a very interesting link for our friends across the water.
http://www.kenmore.org/ferryfarm/archaeology/arch_special/washington.html

Here you’ll see they found wig curlers with exactly the same makers mark, as this one found in a small corner of an English allotment. So as that old saying goes, it’s a small world isn’t it.