A collection of particularly pleasing antique turned wooden pestles. Now retired from their original use, they would make wonderful decorative objects for the home, and their century of grinding and pulverising has given each a beautiful patina. These are also good examples of affordable treen - more of which below.

History

Treen, "of a tree", is a generic name for small vintage and antique handmade functional household objects made of wood. Today, treen is highly collectable for its beautiful patina and tactile appeal. Before the advent of cheap metal wares in industrialized societies, and later, plastic, wood played a much greater part as the raw material for common objects. Turning and carving were the key manufacturing techniques. The selection of wood species was important, and close-grained native hardwoods such as box, beech and sycamore were particularly favoured, with occasional use of exotics, such as lignum vitae for mallet heads.

Anything from wooden plates, bowls, small boxes, spoons, shoehorns and chopping boards can be classed as treen. Domestic and agricultural wooden tools are also classed with treen, such as our wonderful pestles offered here. Their strongly functional and undecorated forms are now highly regarded by designers and collectors. We love treen.

We are selling these individually, so after studying the second image, please make your choice in the box below.  If you would like to purchase the whole collection of four, then you can - and with a discount.

Year of manufacture: c.1900

Origin: France

Material: sycamore

Condition: good

A £45  Height 20cm  Diameter 7.5cm

B £55  Height 26.5cm  Diameter 5cm

C £45  Height 23cm  Diameter 7.5cm

D £55  Height 22cm  Diameter 8cm

Complete collection of 4 £180