✅ SOLVED Can someone give me a hand here?

villagenut

villagenut

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Oct 18, 2014
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detected this little guy today at a pretty old spot , I knew it was a hand when I dug it but saw more detail here at home. It seems that it is a play on the old phrase, "better is one bird in the hand than two in the bush" or something along those lines. There is a rooster in the palm and the words "copy right" in the rectangle below it. It is not broken off something else but looks like it had a pin soldered on the back at one time. Question is, How old do you think it is, I havent seen one before...but like a dummy, I am posting this before I even tried finding a similar example on line....sorry for that. But anyhow, any thoughts on this?

20201025_172509.jpg20201025_194435.jpg20201025_194642.jpg20201025_194823.jpg
 

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Possibly a spinner that was used in bars at one time to determine who bought the round of drinks.
 

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Can you make out the words? First looks like "copy"
 

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Seems you already "have a hand" :)

So... I will point a finger at the combination.

"handcock"
 

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I can't find a match but I'm guessing it is late Victorian/Edwardian era - turn of the 20th C give or take a couple decades. Victorians had a weird fascination with disembodied hands for jewelry and art.

It appears to have just one solder mark on the back. I'm thinking it was a stick pin or a hat pin.
 

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Cool find! AARC beat me to it... I was gonna say "What do you need a hand for, you already have a third one now?" Thanks for sharing with us.
 

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I have a theory for you to shoot down.

I believe this is an ‘Ulster Loyalist’ pin. Perhaps not from any kind of official organisation, but worn as an expression of political and religious support for the Irish province of Ulster remaining part of the United Kingdom. A little history first:

The hand is, I think, symbolic for Ulster and has been used as their emblem for centuries. It’s usually shown as a right hand, and in red if coloured, but you’ll commonly see it in silver or gold on unenamelled jewellery… especially rings. Also known as the “Red Hand of Ulster”, like this one, which also carries a political message:

Red Hand.jpg

In 1688, we had our ‘Glorious Revolution’… a largely bloodless overthrow of the Catholic monarchy by a popular uprising following an invasion by the staunchly Protestant William of Orange from the Dutch Republic. William’s army was pretty much invited to come an invade us to stem the rise of Catholicism and he took the throne as William III of England (William II of Scotland). William was popularly known as ‘King Billy’ and became the poster child for Protestantism thereafter, with Ulster Loyalists becoming known as ‘Billy Boys’. All of this suited the province of Ulster in the North of Ireland, which was largely protestant, but not the southern parts of Ireland which were predominantly Catholic. Hence the deep divisions in Irish politics that ultimately led to partition in 1921, with six of Ulster’s nine counties becoming the state of ‘Northern Ireland’ and remaining loyal to the monarchy.

The Ulster Loyalist movement emerged in the late 19th Century in direct response to the Irish Home Rule movement, and the rise of Catholic Irish nationalism. Ulster was popularly referred (at least by its own residents) as “The Cock o’ the North” and that imagery was used in political propaganda, and also referenced in one of their ‘battle-cry’ songs: “Fight for Billy, Fight for Billy, Fight for the Cock o’ the North…” Here’s a piece of Loyalist propaganda in the form of a postcard, reinforcing their opposition to Home-Rule for Ireland:

Cock.jpg

I think someone has put the two elements together in that pin as an expression of Ulster’s loyalty, which would probably put it somewhere in the late 1800s or early 1900s.
 

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Red-Coat said:
I have a theory for you to shoot down.

I believe this is an ‘Ulster Loyalist’ pin. Perhaps not from any kind of official organisation, but worn as an expression of political and religious support for the Irish province of Ulster remaining part of the United Kingdom. A little history first:

The hand is, I think, symbolic for Ulster and has been used as their emblem for centuries. It’s usually shown as a right hand, and in red if coloured, but you’ll commonly see it in silver or gold on unenamelled jewellery… especially rings. Also known as the “Red Hand of Ulster”, like this one, which also carries a political message:

View attachment 1875024

In 1688, we had our ‘Glorious Revolution’… a largely bloodless overthrow of the Catholic monarchy by a popular uprising following an invasion by the staunchly Protestant William of Orange from the Dutch Republic. William’s army was pretty much invited to come an invade us to stem the rise of Catholicism and he took the throne as William III of England (William II of Scotland). William was popularly known as ‘King Billy’ and became the poster child for Protestantism thereafter, with Ulster Loyalists becoming known as ‘Billy Boys’. All of this suited the province of Ulster in the North of Ireland, which was largely protestant, but not the southern parts of Ireland which were predominantly Catholic. Hence the deep divisions in Irish politics that ultimately led to partition in 1921, with six of Ulster’s nine counties becoming the state of ‘Northern Ireland’ and remaining loyal to the monarchy.

The Ulster Loyalist movement emerged in the late 19th Century in direct response to the Irish Home Rule movement, and the rise of Catholic Irish nationalism. Ulster was popularly referred (at least by its own residents) as “The Cock o’ the North” and that imagery was used in political propaganda, and also referenced in one of their ‘battle-cry’ songs: “Fight for Billy, Fight for Billy, Fight for the Cock o’ the North…” Here’s a piece of Loyalist propaganda in the form of a postcard, reinforcing their opposition to Home-Rule for Ireland:

View attachment 1875025

I think someone has put the two elements together in that pin as an expression of Ulster’s loyalty, which would probably put it somewhere in the late 1800s or early 1900s.
Click to expand...

That is a lot to take in, but the hand with the rooster in it symbolism should be able to be found among the historical record. Does the word copyright play into the theory? Or possibly just a play on the bird in the hand catchphrase. But then, why a rooster and not a regular bird? Thanks RC
 

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Neat find! It might be an item from the 1880 presidential campaign of Winfield Scott Hancock. He used that word play on 'Hand-Cock' in his badges and pins etc.

See this --

https://historical.ha.com/itm/polit.../a/6168-43079.s?ic4=ListView-Thumbnail-071515

Winfield Scott Hancock: Fabulous Rebus Ferrotype Badge. WSH-1880-21, 7/8" x 2 1/4" gilt brass shell with stickpin attachment. The badge shows a hand and a rooster ("Hand/Cock"). A ferrotype portrait of Hancock is mounted on the cuff portion above two flags. Retains about 40-50% of the original finish. The ferrotype is bold, bright and in sharp focus, just about perfect. Without question, the best Hancock ferro there is, bar none! From the Scott W. Dolson Collection.

https://historical.ha.com/itm/polit...-38468.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515
 

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I think Bramblefind might be on to something. Red-Coat's theory is interesting, too. I'm just not sure how "COPY RIGHT" fits in with either of those theories. It's a unique find though. Thank you for sharing it with us.
 

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Bramblefind said:
Neat find! It might be an item from the 1880 presidential campaign of Winfield Scott Hancock. He used that word play on 'Hand-Cock' in his badges and pins etc.

See this --

https://historical.ha.com/itm/polit.../a/6168-43079.s?ic4=ListView-Thumbnail-071515

Winfield Scott Hancock: Fabulous Rebus Ferrotype Badge. WSH-1880-21, 7/8" x 2 1/4" gilt brass shell with stickpin attachment. The badge shows a hand and a rooster ("Hand/Cock"). A ferrotype portrait of Hancock is mounted on the cuff portion above two flags. Retains about 40-50% of the original finish. The ferrotype is bold, bright and in sharp focus, just about perfect. Without question, the best Hancock ferro there is, bar none! From the Scott W. Dolson Collection.

https://historical.ha.com/itm/polit...-38468.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515
Click to expand...

Now... that looks a very promising connection.


Doubter in MD said:
I think Bramblefind might be on to something. Red-Coat's theory is interesting, too. I'm just not sure how "COPY RIGHT" fits in with either of those theories. It's a unique find though. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't put too much importance on that. Marking an item with the word "Copyright" (split here because the item is small) is just a way of asserting that an artistic design is someone's intellectual property and those that replicate it without permission will be pursued. The alternative (and stronger) protection would be a Design Patent, for which something novel that goes beyond pictorial elements would need to be part and parcel of the patent.
 

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