Big-hat hatpins
Lethal weapon length
The Big Lily
Big Lily hatpin, lethal length 13"
Never Go Walking Out Without Your Hatpin, sang the bawdies of old London, and you can memorize the words at ://www.soileddoves.com/hatpin.html; and hear it at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pJ0NhhO4-s (you might want to shut your eyes).
Do a search for "bawdy cockney songs" and up will come one Elsa Lanchester and her version, "Never Go Walking Without Your Hatpin," without the "out" - enjoy.
These Victorian and Edwardian hatpins are weapons.
Big Lily, the hatpin on the first page of this site, has a rod that is 13" long. The blossom only adds another 3/4", however, so our bling one - still to be posted - is still champ. We have a "paste" one - looks like rhinestones, but probably not, and its rod is 12" long. The head of the pin is 2 1/4" tall. Total? 14 1/4" long. A weapon.
One hapless pastor, the Rev. S. H. Phillips of Durham (the news was from Bethlehem PA so think central) died in 1895 from a friendly jab in jest, in his leg, by a Miss Cope, a parishioner, reported by the New York Times on July 11, 1895. See://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B04E3D7103AE533A25752C1A9619C94649ED7CF, and click to get the actual story. Cause of death: blood poisoning. He was 31. There was the prick, then six weeks, then the leg was amputated, and it did not work out well.
Hatpins were even advertised as weapons. Self-defense. See ://www.heliograph.com/trmgs/trmgs2/adventuress.shtml. Using the hatpin qualified for close combat rules: fencing. Typhoid Mary even used her hatpin to hold off the police trying to arrest her. That site shows some hatpins from the Sears & Roebuck catalogue 1897. Some swords are there. We have some, coming.
Hatpins are still used for protection. See://www.i-mockery.com/visionary/didyouknow.php.
There is somewhere on the net a poem from the era on how these were used. Ordinances: In Chicago, an ordinance was passed to prevent the long pins from injuring others in crowds if the wearer turned around quickly. See this one from 1910 - Violation can lead to arrest and a fine of $50, the exposed point of the pin could only protrude 1/2", and it passed 68-2. Women protested that the hatpins were their only defense - ://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9903EFDA1430E233A25751C2A9659C946196D6CF. In Paris: similar, 1913 - no exposed points in buses, etc. See http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F04E6DE1F3BE633A2575AC0A9649D946296D6CF. Some people had been blinded.
That led to hatpin tip protectors, but enforcement was difficult, see Berlin and New Orleans incidents and descriptions at "The Good Old Days," book by David Lewis Cohn - ://books.google.com/books?id=0uB15d5hE38C&pg=PA347&lpg=PA347&dq=hatpin+ordinance&source=web&ots=cZ-L8iYSdg&sig=aTTSSznML8Av-f9m_WeMRx3JrQw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result.
Lethal weapon length
The Big Lily
Big Lily hatpin, lethal length 13"Never Go Walking Out Without Your Hatpin, sang the bawdies of old London, and you can memorize the words at ://www.soileddoves.com/hatpin.html; and hear it at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pJ0NhhO4-s (you might want to shut your eyes).
Do a search for "bawdy cockney songs" and up will come one Elsa Lanchester and her version, "Never Go Walking Without Your Hatpin," without the "out" - enjoy.
These Victorian and Edwardian hatpins are weapons.
Big Lily, the hatpin on the first page of this site, has a rod that is 13" long. The blossom only adds another 3/4", however, so our bling one - still to be posted - is still champ. We have a "paste" one - looks like rhinestones, but probably not, and its rod is 12" long. The head of the pin is 2 1/4" tall. Total? 14 1/4" long. A weapon.
One hapless pastor, the Rev. S. H. Phillips of Durham (the news was from Bethlehem PA so think central) died in 1895 from a friendly jab in jest, in his leg, by a Miss Cope, a parishioner, reported by the New York Times on July 11, 1895. See://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B04E3D7103AE533A25752C1A9619C94649ED7CF, and click to get the actual story. Cause of death: blood poisoning. He was 31. There was the prick, then six weeks, then the leg was amputated, and it did not work out well.
Hatpins were even advertised as weapons. Self-defense. See ://www.heliograph.com/trmgs/trmgs2/adventuress.shtml. Using the hatpin qualified for close combat rules: fencing. Typhoid Mary even used her hatpin to hold off the police trying to arrest her. That site shows some hatpins from the Sears & Roebuck catalogue 1897. Some swords are there. We have some, coming.
Hatpins are still used for protection. See://www.i-mockery.com/visionary/didyouknow.php.
There is somewhere on the net a poem from the era on how these were used. Ordinances: In Chicago, an ordinance was passed to prevent the long pins from injuring others in crowds if the wearer turned around quickly. See this one from 1910 - Violation can lead to arrest and a fine of $50, the exposed point of the pin could only protrude 1/2", and it passed 68-2. Women protested that the hatpins were their only defense - ://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9903EFDA1430E233A25751C2A9659C946196D6CF. In Paris: similar, 1913 - no exposed points in buses, etc. See http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F04E6DE1F3BE633A2575AC0A9649D946296D6CF. Some people had been blinded.
That led to hatpin tip protectors, but enforcement was difficult, see Berlin and New Orleans incidents and descriptions at "The Good Old Days," book by David Lewis Cohn - ://books.google.com/books?id=0uB15d5hE38C&pg=PA347&lpg=PA347&dq=hatpin+ordinance&source=web&ots=cZ-L8iYSdg&sig=aTTSSznML8Av-f9m_WeMRx3JrQw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result.
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