A mystery bell

[tuatara]

This post is for those who like bells and puzzles .
We got this one from a site with a history span of more than 100 years.
The place started as a ‘watering hole’ for Cobb & Co (coach company) in the times of The Gold Rush in Australia. It ended up as a dairy farm that was sold to developers in the late 1960’s. This site brought us a very mixed assortment of objects ranging from William IV sixpence to debased silver coins of the ‘current’ Queen, from Chinese things to American ones, from civil finds - to military insignia. This historical and cultural diversity of the site really makes dating and identification quite a headache. We have no idea what type of a bell it is or how old it can be. It’s quite heavy, about 6 cm in diameter and 4 cm in height. Judging by a beautiful patina and the signal on my Explorer, it is made of bronze. The pattern does not look European at all. It might be Asian. The pattern is also very crude and seems hand-made. There is an enigmatic (at least for me) word ‘ANIH’ scratched inside the bell. I have a wild idea that this is a part of an elephant bell. Can anyone help me to crack this one?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[BioProfessor]

My standard answer applies here - furniture hardware or horse tack.

Daryl

 

[doublet2a]

I was thinking the BELL part of an old "desk bell"


Tim

 

[BioProfessor]

Me too but didn't the top have a hole for the plunger to go through? And the attachment thing on the inside of this one is way off center.

Daryl

 

[tuatara]

Thank you for your ideas. It might be a horse tack. Just that it looks too exotic, totally non-British in design. It might be related to half cent Ceylon coin of 1937 that was found on that site. Another souvenir from the East.

 

[trikikiwi]

The imprint in the second picture is the word "CHINA" backwards.

Well done Ran... sorry, Spooky
Weird that it would be stamped like that
any chance tuatara, that you have used a mirror image pic?
and Daryl,

Me too but didn't the top have a hole for the plunger to go through? And the attachment thing on the inside of this one is way off center.
Daryl

That's evidently an illusion

Mike

 

[BioProfessor]

Yeah you're right. Lost my good glasses MDing the other day.

Daryl

 

[tuatara]

The imprint in the second picture is the word "CHINA" backwards.

Well done Ran... sorry, Spooky
Weird that it would be stamped like that
any chance tuatara, that you have used a mirror image pic?

No, Mike. Sorry!!! I am not Alice through the looking glass gal . That's how it was scratched (not stamped). I also wonder why . Probably it was scratched by Leonardo Da Vinci. He liked the mirror language if you believe Dan Brown's Da Vinci code.
Spooky, you rock. Sharp mind you have, mate. Or is it a way ya see things? Well done!!! Now who can tell me where it was used and it is solved. Probably after all it is just a part of a desk bell, an export from China.

 

[IronSpike]

I think 4 cm may be too small for an elephant bell. Maybe a small temple bell?

http://www.collect.at/old-chinese-bronze-bell-from-temple-qing-dynasty-p-6311.html

 

[tuatara]

I think 4 cm may be too small for an elephant bell. Maybe a small temple bell?

Thanks IronSpike,

This thought has crossed my mind a couple of times. However, the bell's 'configuration' is different to the temple bells on the Internet. I mean, its shape (too wide) and the clapper. I will stick to a desk or rather a counter bell as the place at one stage used to be a hotel. There is a very similar example that I found browsing.

 

[tuatara]

Thanks to every one who participated.

Doublet2a and Spooky you cracked it - a counter bell exported from China as I think in the beginning of the 20th century.