Coupler Couple, Earlyish 19th C. Iron Buckboard Wagon Couplers-Cum-Snakes victorian spillikins Clearly it was made for

Clearly it was made for a purpose

functioning just fine

it was as the subject of a painting by British artist Francis Barraud that he later became an icon

Late in life

I know nothing of its maker

Coupler Couple, Earlyish 19th C. Iron Buckboard Wagon Couplers-Cum-Snakes victorian spillikins Clearly it was made forReally fun to find these, purchased from the same Lancaster, PA dealer as a great mid 19th c. crooked neck Knickerbocker stoneware beer bottle that I listed and sold last week. I know from him that they are couplers (joining pieces) from an early American buckboard wagon, which at some point accrued two eyes each, transforming them into snakes! Beautiful forms and very satisfying physicality to the iron to begin with, and of course all the better