Corker, Bottle
Object number2010.14.15 a-j
Mediummetal; cork
Credit LineGift of Marilyn Di Matteis
DescriptionBottle corker with eight (8) corks. Metal bottle corker with red metal lever. Maker text embossed on lever's handle. Eight light brown cork bottle stoppers.DimensionsMeasurements approximate.(a) Width: 7 ; Length: 14
(b-j) W: 1 ; L: 1.5
Marks(a)
Embossed on lever's handle: "L'ATELIER [image of diamond inside circle] DUVIN".
Historical NotesBottle corker used by the Di Matteis family during the wine-making process. Most likely bought in the Strip District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Part of a collection that represents three generations of donor Marilyn Di Matteis' family of Italian Americans in the Western Pennsylvania area. Her father was born in the United States, went back to Italy, and then returned as a young teenager in the mid-1920s. His family stayed behind in Italy. He had a very difficult relationship with his father and revered his mother. The donor's mother (Elvira Martinelli) was born in Italy and came to the United States as a young girl, though she was never naturalized until the late 1940s. Her family settled in Dennison, Ohio, to work on the railroads but moved south to Weirton, West Virginia. The railroad work as not particularly constant, so other forms of work were often substituted, such as picking up vegetables in the Strip District when the train stopped in Pittsburgh and selling them in West Virginia to neighbors. The family also had a farm at various points in their lives. The young couple married in 1934 and bought a farm in the 1940s.
On View
On view
c. 1773
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c. 1880
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