A couple of weekends ago a lady brought me her antique Swiss spinning wheel to see if it was a working wheel. I did some research on Ravelry and discovered that sadly, it wasn't. The flyer was a fake, never been used and only made to look antique. The bobbin, also a fake, had been attached so that it could not be removed from the spindle.






It's a beautiful wheel that was well used for many, many years but has been retired to live out it's days as a lovely, antique piece of furniture.


Not sure if you can see them but there are wooden rings around the horizontal bars called, captive rings. They would have been carved from the same piece of wood and at the same time as the bar. They were not installed nor are they removable. They were a good indication of the wood carver's skills. This wheel has no less than five rings.


The lady is looking to sell this beauty as she has no room for it in her house. I can picture it sitting by my livingroom fireplace but I could not own a non-working spinning wheel. If only I had the funds and/or skills to renew it to it's working glory. Did I mention it comes with a matching, free standing distaff?