Antique corkscrews have become increasingly popular items with collectors over the years, due in part to their wide range of prices. Although there are few auctions and specialty dealers who handle these items, many collectors can still find these inventive and delightfully practical pieces.
Early corkscrews had basically the same 'worm' crafted by gunsmiths at the time to clean gun barrels. When wine bottles became properly corked again during the 17th century, there was a pressing need for good methods of extraction - and the corkscrew as a refined tool for this purpose began to emerge.
The most collectible corkscrews were crafted during the 19th-century in England, and consisted of mainly mechanical design corkscrews. During this ‘golden age of the corkscrew’ over 300 patents for the small tools were registered.
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It’s important as collectors to remember that not all corkscrews make good investments. Generally, it’s only the working models that have any sort of real collector value, so any pieces in a fragile state are less likely to retain value. Pieces marked by rust can often be restored with careful cleaning.
Stiffened joints and mechanisms can be worked back into usefulness with a bit of carefully placed oil. Try to stay away from purchasing any piece with damaged parts or areas of obvious repair need. There are many cheaply-made examples from the late 19th century that are no more desired now, then they were back then.
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