Slave Stuff

i saw these but they do no seem right ...... any comments

Ummm, can you show us what you are talking about with either a picture or URL link please...

i saw these but they do no seem right ...... any comments

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... T&viewitem=

i saw these but they do no seem right ...... any comments

They're Bilboes. They look old. The photo is small and shows little detail. The patina is not inconsistent with old wrought iron.

I don't see anything that would rule out 19C slave shackles, but they could just as well be 19C naval items, or civilian. I seem to recall reading about the use of Bilboes in the French Guyana prison camps. Any fool of a blacksmith could make a dozen in an afternoon (only exaggerating a little), so they were cheap. To say they were nasty, would be to stress the obvious.

The seller's comment that they were made up for an adult and a child is just gloss. The bows would heve been kept loose in a barrel and the shafts in another barrel. They're not sets. They're assembled as needed and to fit.

It is absolutely impossible to determine the provenance of these kind of things, unless they were excavated from an archaeological site, and chain of custody maintained.

i saw these but they do no seem right ...... any comments

I say fake, how do you get the thing apart and back together?

i saw these but they do no seem right ...... any comments

The washer looking thing on the skinny end of the rod is a split ring. It can easily be pried apart with pliers or a hammer, and set the same way. You can't do it with your fingers. Some bilboes use a key, driven in.

The things were beaten on and beaten off.

Like I said, cheap and nasty.

i saw these but they do no seem right ...... any comments

The cuffs are out of order on the bar. Should be a small cuff, then the 2 large cuffs and then the other small cuff. Made for wrists and ankles to keep a prisoner in a sitting position? Veeeeeeeery nasty.