Eclipses

Back in April we experienced a total solar eclipse, but that wasn't the only eclipse of 2024 because not long after I won this beautiful bar mounted Eclipse corkscrew at auction. These have long been one of my favorite bar mounted corkscrews. These large statement pieces are fairly rare and quite unique in their design and mechanism. Unfortunately, upon its arrival from the auction house, I tested it....and nothing. I have another one of these in the collection, so I know how these are suppose to work; you spin the handle in a continuous motion and the screw spins into the cork and retracts the cork and will then unscrew from the cork if you continue spinning. I opened up the corkscrew to investigate as well as referenced Compendium of Bar Corkscrews by Wayne Meadows and concluded that it was missing an important gear. My guess is that the gear broke at some point and was removed. I may get around to trying to get a new gear cast or possibly 3D printed some day, but until then, it's still a beautiful show piece. If any collector friends have any cost effective ways to get a new gear cast or printed then let me know.