Finding the exact application would take a bunch of research. Here's a couple of links to show what lockster99, Breezie, and I are talking about. Zoom in on one of the wheels. Pedal car or wagon......take your pick. I think it much more likely that it came from one of these than a spittoon sales sample. I mean, just how many of those things were made? maybe a few dozen? Pedal cars and wagons on the other hand were made in the hundreds of thousands....maybe millions.
I highly doubt it is an axle cap. Its just not like one and the house site was area was pretty hilly. No place for a pedal car. It is not threaded on the inside. I didn't think about a cocktail shaker haha.
Mope540 WOW I think you nailed it. A spittoon that's pretty cool! I never would have guessed that and thanks for sharing. Ill have to go back and look for the top now haha. That's really cool. Do you know what they were used for? Just sampling food or something?[/QUOTE]
Salesman's Samples were 'samples' used by salesmen to show store owners a product in hopes of selling it. Salesman's Samples were miniature versions of the larger actual item. For example: A salesman representing a wood stove company, would have a hard time transporting a 500 pound cast iron wood stove from merchant to merchant, thus the 'Salesman's Sample' was invented. The miniature versions were often exact replicas of the larger originals. As far as cuspidor spittoons were concerned, there were as Cuda said, very few made. Why? Spittoons were small enough objects to show the merchant the actual product. Below is a pic of a Salesman's Sample wood stove.
I'm not saying your item is NOT a spittoon sample, nor am I saying I know for a fact it is an axle push cap, but when ID-ing unknowns, I generally lean toward the common vs. the rare. I hope it is a rare salesman sample, but it will take research to confirm. Is is marked anywhere?
Also, I wanted to add, the axle push caps were not threaded, hence 'push caps,' and were heavier on one end since it had to be hammered/tapped onto the axle. Just this past Christmas, we bought a tricycle for my grandson, and the axle caps were 'push type' and had to be tapped with a hammer to put in place.
Breezie
July 30 1901 Top Rim Turns | eBay
