EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY THIMBLES .sx Three main shapes characterize thimbles made in the eighteenth century :sx in the early years , a short , round thimble was preferred ; gradually , tall , thin thimbles replaced these in popularity ; but by the end of the century , the beehive form was favoured .sx As the century progressed , so the demand for sewing sets increased .sx By the end of the seventeenth century , the Dutch thimble industry was beginning to lose its business to English and German competitors .sx There were at least five German factories in the valley of the river Lenne , in south Westphalia , the most notable of which was owned by Johan Casper Rumpe who enjoyed the patronage of Frederick the Great .sx Rumpe's basic method of production was casting and then hand-finishing and his company specialized in inexpensive well-made metal thimbles ; they are still in production today .sx England had its own prospering brass trade by now and no longer needed to import thimbles from over - seas .sx John Lofting's mill continued production into the eighteenth century - finds of his brass thimbles in the United States , England and the Netherlands suggest that they were in great demand .sx Birmingham had a flourishing trade in small brass toys ( in the sense of trinkets ) , such as thimbles , buckles and buttons , alongside that of its silverware .sx Joseph Ashwell and Walter Davenport were registered there in the trade directory in 1769 as thimble-makers .sx The same year saw the patenting of an important invention for applying metal ornamentation , John Ford's patent Number 935 .sx Raised patterns were formed on a sheet of metal which was pressed by machine between two dyes ( stamps ) , one dye being convex and the other concave .sx This gave far greater scope for design on less expensive goods and effectively foreshadowed the end of the hand-crafted metal thimble ; after a period of experimentation , mass-production of metal thimbles became a reality .sx The collector's interest in base metal thimbles is obviously not connected solely with the value of the materials from which they are made or with aesthetic considerations , but with their craftsmanship , antiquity , historical associations and so on .sx The mass-production of thimbles therefore often renders them less interesting to the collector .sx The eighteenth century saw the general diminution of the power of monarchy and a corresponding increase in the power of elected government .sx New industrial methods accelerated the number and range of everyday and luxury goods produced and more people could afford them .sx The eighteenth-century fashion for trifles , objets de vertu , and galenterie ( including thimbles ) which originated in France , took Europe by storm .sx Silver sewing compendiums are a good example .sx Three main thimble shapes succeeded each other as the century progressed .sx Needleworkers in the first half of the century preferred the shorter rounder shape which then declined in popularity in favour of a return to the tall , slim thimble with a rounded top .sx The beehive form towards the end of the century was the last of the three .sx Until the 1750s or so , thimbles were still being made in two pieces - a top and a cylinder .sx A gentle widening of the base in relation to the top as the century progressed was accompanied by the addition of a border which often carried decoration , followed by two engraved lines at the thimble's base ( in lieu of a rim) .sx Indentations were small and round , retaining the circular look prevalent at the end of the previous century - the waffle indentations on the sides of the thimbles had ceased .sx Occasionally tiny dots were used in between the circular indentations .sx The thimble tops had both round and waffle - shaped indentations but rarely any rims .sx In the second half of the century , metal thimbles began to be made in one piece using a technique known as the 'deep drawn' method .sx 'Deep drawing' shapes the thimble from a small , flat , round disc which is hammered into a dye , or mould .sx This method of production was largely responsible for pushing the trend towards taller slimmer thimbles which needed in some cases to be reinforced , for instance , with the introduction of steel tops .sx Beehive thimbles were made in one piece , with indentations reaching down to the border at their base .sx Thimble decoration certainly changed to suit current tastes ( for the Neo-classical and Rococo styles ) , but not so drastically that working thimbles lost their primarily functional raison d' e-circ tre .sx The more restrained Neo-classical style prevailed on decorative thimbles that had still to retain their full function ; more extravagant Rococo designs were favoured for elaborate chatelaines and etuis , prized for their fine workmanship and expensive materials more than for their utility .sx Exceptional workmanship is evident in certain Rococo gold and tortoiseshell thimble cases and in gold thimbles .sx The typically wavy , almost waisted outline , the chasing of tiny flowers and leaves and even the use of a natural material such as shell luxurious harmony with gold are all classic examples of the Rococo style at its finest .sx THIMBLES AS TOYS .sx Decorative thimbles and other 'toys' were also being introduced alongside practical working thimbles .sx Silver compendiums , mainly made in England , Germany and Italy are particularly interesting :sx a compendium unscrews to reveal a thimble , a letter powderer , a needle-holder and a letter seal .sx Ribbon-like interlacing and chasing in Moorish patterns recurs frequently .sx Filigree ( wire work ) was widely applied to sewing toys , and in the first half of the century , decorative filigree thimbles were stubby in shape and had rounded tops .sx Later filigrees are taller and slimmer , but both styles had shields or ovals on which their owner's initials could be marked .sx Various combinations were used in making later thimble toys , the most famous being a thimble screwing on to a base containing a miniature scent bottle as first seen in the preceding century .sx Other variations included thimbles with a tape measure or a pin cushion .sx Some had a finger guard that screwed on to a base containing a tiny emery cushion ; the guard was then covered by a thimble , but is sadly , now almost always missing .sx The bases of these toys often had engraved initials and are thought to have been used to seal letters .sx Most of the toys that have survived are in silver , gold or pinchbeck and command very high prices .sx Contemporary porcelain thimbles are also highly sought-after :sx the vital factor affecting their value is the painting on them .sx They have the added charm of often being very colourful , with an air of fragile delicacy .sx The eighteenth century was the great age of porcelain , a fine ceramic ware , white , translucent and very delicate .sx It was first developed and exploited in China and was named after its country of origin , although the English word comes from the Italian , porcellana .sx Unfortunately very few porcelain thimbles of the period exist , and many of those that have come down to us are difficult to attribute with any certainty .sx Because of this , accredited eighteenth-century porcelain thimbles are highly sought-after and consequently fetch very high prices at auction .sx MEISSEN One of the first documented porcelain thimbles is recorded in the list of the great Meissen factory ( the first to manufacture 'hard paste' porcelain in Europe ) in Germany in the early 1700s , under the category Galanterien , which can be translated in this context as 'fancy goods' .sx There is little pretence that these porcelain thimbles were ever intended for practical work :sx they were fashioned purely as decorative objects - as beautiful gifts and keepsakes for wives and sweethearts - and for this reason they have a very special place in the romance of thimble-collecting ( China thimbles do , however , have a specific use in needlework , as their smooth texture makes them ideal for working with silk) .sx Because most Meissen thimbles now exist in private collections , it is very difficult to calculate how many actually survive , but it would be a great surprise , given what we know , if there are more than about 500 - of which only a handful are in public collections and museums .sx At probably the most important ever auction of thimbles , held at Christie's Geneva show - room in 1975 , no less than 103 Meissen thimbles went under the hammer , all of which were fully authenticated , and many of which were , in addition , accredited to individual craftsmen and painters .sx A world record price of 21,000 Swiss francs was paid for a continuous seascape thimble featuring offshore ships , attributed to Ignaz Preissler at Breslau .sx This record price was broken in 1979 , when Christie's auctioned 10 Meissen thimbles , among them a small thimble from the 1740s depicting a harbour scene , which sold for a hammer price of pounds8000 .sx Landscapes and seascapes are popular Meissen subjects , as are people fishing or hunting , and birds and flowers depicted in oriental style .sx Many Meissen thimbles have a distinctive rounded form , but the Cummer Gallery of Art in Jacksonville , Florida , has a collection of eight eighteenth-century Meissen thimbles , the shapes of which vary considerably .sx One has a waisted effect , tied around with a painted blue bow on a plain white ground and with a gilded interior ; another is very small and squat , with two plain yellow bands at top and bottom ; and a third has a flat top , is tall and slim , and is painted all over with many - colourd many - coloured< 'Deutsche-Blumen' flowers .sx This Deutsche-Blumen pattern was introduced c.1735 , inspired by Chinese and Japanese work :sx it shows stylized oriental flowers outlined in a darker colour .sx The trademark of Meissen consists of two crossed swords , painted in underglaze blue , but this is not always present .sx Meissen thimbles can usually be readily identified by the painting style , which is always fine , and shows meticulous attention to detail :sx gilding inside the thimble is also a good indicator , but again , this is not always found .sx Meissen designs were heavily influenced by Chinese and Japanese decoration on the costly items regularly imported to Europe from the Far East at that time .sx Because of their great commercial success , and the facility with which they reinterpreted oriental hard paste porcelain , most of their contemporary European rivals copied Meissen , though there is not here , as there is in other thimble categories , much danger of confusion in attribution .sx These competitors and imitators included factories at Furstenberg , Ludwigsburg , Nymphenburg , and possibly H o chst , in Germany ; Schooren in Switzerland ; and Du Paquier in Vienna :sx but documentation is incomplete , and in any case none of their production can be said to rival Meissen either in artistry or scale of output .sx Elsewhere in Europe , the Royal Copenhagen factory in Denmark certainly produced some porcelain thimbles , but they lack the refined elegance of their Meissen peers .sx Thimbles were also manufactured at the Royal Factory in Naples , Italy , of which a small number still exist , and at Mennecy-Villeroy , in France .sx However , it is only in England that any genuine attempt was made to compete with Meissen , certainly in quantity , if seldom in design .sx It is ironic that the growth of the market for porcelain thimbles in England came at a time when the Meissen factory had all but ceased production .sx Generally , records for the earliest past of the eighteenth century are vague , and though thimbles other than Meissen have come down to us , attribution is difficult and mostly uncertain .sx Factory documentation shows that porcelain thimbles were being manufactured in quantity , yet relatively few examples exist :sx this may be due to their fragility , or to the fact that they were damaged easily , and so were discarded .sx In England in the late eighteenth century , the Chelsea factory and the Worcester Porcelain Company ( previously named Chamberlain Worcester ) , all included soft past thimbles in their list of wares .sx It was not until the nineteenth century that the fashion really took hold , and the market was then quickly dominated by Worcester .sx Porcelain had become a standard product by the end of the eighteenth century :sx when Chamberlain ( later to become Chamberlain Worcester ) commenced manufacture in 1790 , there were fewer than 10 porcelain producers in the British Isles , but by the 1840s-50s there were nearly 100 .sx One of the earliest pieces of evidence of porcelain thimble manufacture in England is a thimble waster , or mould , found in one of the store rooms of the Worcester Porcelain Company dating from c.1785.