This is an old wheel.  It was part of Joan Cummer’s collection, auctioned off when Lowell’s American Textile History Museum closed.  I was the only person to bid on this wheel at the auction and bought it because Cummer believed it to be the oldest wheel in her collection. 

The underside of the table has a carved date in Roman Numerals of 1707, and the same date is faintly inscribed on the table’s side. 

The wheel is No. 29 in Cummer’s collection and, in her description, she did not question the date, noting that it was compatible with the wheel’s William and Mary turnings. 

According to Cummer, the wheel was believed to have been brought to New England from England. 

I do not know if the wheel is really that old or if it was from England—it has some Scandinavian-style features.

Unfortunately, we do not have many surviving wheels from the early 18^th century for comparison and I have not been able to find any similar wheels in paintings. 

I like to think it is over three hundred years old. 

But, even if not quite that old, it has been through a lot. 

As Cummer commented, there seems to be at least one layer of green paint that, while old, is not original. 

The wood that shines through is a beautifully grained reddish color. 

The two secondary upright supports rise from the legs and fall out at the slightest jiggle. One foot is completely broken out where the treadle bar rod was inserted. 

In the leg at the other end, the bar is supported by a metal tube inserted through the wood.

The wheel’s slanty stance is a result of the legs being inserted into angular cuts on the table’s downhill side. 

The circular tree rings are visible on the end of the table. 

The axle is held in place with a large screwed wooden pin,

although the back one is missing.  There are carvings on the table

and at both ends,

a distaff hole,

and multiple grooves down the sides. 

The treadle bars are thick and give plenty of support for two footed treadling. Yet, they are graceful, too. The treadle is now attached with large screws.

 The wheel rim is four parts with a thin shim piece in one join.

The elongated tops of the maidens are particularly lovely. 

The flyer assembly is in good shape

with three-layered leather flyer bearings held together with rivets. 

It appears that the green paint was slathered over everything at some point, including the flyer hooks and leather bearings.

It is an unusual, intriguing wheel and I am always on the lookout for others like it so that we might be able to better establish its age and origin. 

For further reference see:

Cummer, Joan, A Book of Spinning Wheels, Peter E. Randall, Portsmouth, N.H. 1984, pp. 70-71.