Antique corkscrews: how to collect

From Victorian patents to ladies’ legs corkscrews are very varied.

An ‘unusual Victorian corkscrew’, estimated to fetch around £400–£600, sold for an eye-watering £40,000 to an anonymous buyer. It was – and remains – the most expensive corkscrew sold at auction, ever.

This was a rare ratchet mechanism Charles Osborne- patented corkscrew made using iron and wood that was in the foundation of the Old London Bridge for 656 years. Collectors get excited about ratchet corkscrews anyway, but this one was in great condition with an inscription and the provenance was fascinating, too.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a millionaire to start collecting antique corkscrews. ‘ou can get one that’s a hundred years old for a few pounds. Although entry-level prices are accessible, numbers quickly spiral up if it’s a known patent that was mass-produced. ‘A Victorian double-lever corkscrew by James Heeley, for instance, would fetch about £50. There are rare corkscrews that fetch more but finding those is difficult.

Corkscrews first emerged in the early 1700s, when wine bottles began to have tight-fitting corks. Prior to that, wine wasn’t stored for longevity and corks could be removed with a knife. Samuel Henshall created the very first patented British – and worldwide – corkscrew in 1795. It was made in conjunction with Matthew Boulton at his Soho manufactory in Birmingham. Henshall’s design had a little button on it to compress the pull and many ‘Henshall-type’ corkscrews were made by other makers later.

Early corkscrews were simple but when the Victorians came along with their manufacturing ingenuity, hundreds of patents came out. All the mechanical designs have different actions. Concertina ones, for example, first appeared in 1884 when a design was patented by Marshall Wier. All the other concertina corkscrews then descended from that design.

Makers in France, Germany, Italy and America also came up with different ideas at this time and there are hundreds of sub- genres within the corkscrews category. Antique versions were made in a plethora of materials– scrimshaw, horn, wood, ivory, silver, brass, bronze – the diversity of designs appeals to collectors and attracts new ‘helixophiles.

Folding or sheathed corkscrews were often kept in a gentleman’s jacket pocket and whipped out when needed to entertain fellow drinkers, so – as with vesta cases – some designs were a bit risqué. There are 1950s American ‘Pig Butt’ corkscrews where the screw is a curly tail, and various smutty takes on a wooden sailor. In the 1890s, German manufacturers made cheeky corkscrews that were fashioned like ladies’ legs. These corkscrews always make people laugh and they look great in groups. They were made up until the 1930s and you get later repro pieces, too. The smaller ones are more valuable than bigger ones and there are so many variations; you get striped stockings in different colours, flesh-topped legs and no stockings at all – the most expensive.

Condition is king for all corkscrew hunters. Typical damage to look out for when buying includes chips and cracks to the handle, rust, tarnish or pitting to the metalwork and damage to the mechanism. Most corkscrews have no makers’ marks on them at all but if they have a ‘fancy shank’ or a maker’s mark, prices go up.

So, what’s the best corkscrew in terms of performance?  Probably ‘rack and pinion’ ones. Those are the easiest to use because you just turn a handle.