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Stearns staff members have identified groups of related items that are particularly interesting. Use any of the links below to view a gallery.
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Found 21 result(s)
 | dervish whirling rattle Stearns #0065 | Middle East Turkey | This dervish whirling Rattle, measuring 34 cm in length, is made of twelve pairs of chains attached to a wooden ball. A rattle's metal handle takes the form of a dagger. |
 | boatswain's rattle, watchman's rattle, ratchet Stearns #0078 | Europe England? | Known in French as crécelles, in Italian as a raganelle, and in German as Ratshen, noisemakers such as this one were used by night watchmen in the 18th and 19th Centuries to alert townspeople in the case of an emergency. This one has a dark-stained oak cogwheel and oak tongue, frame, and handle with decorative turnings. See Stearns #0076 and #0077 for similar instruments. |
 | clapper bell Stearns #0103 | Europe Switzerland? | These Cowbells are made of hammered brass sheets that have been bent and soldered into quadrilateral forms. |
 | Stearns #0136 | Middle East Iran (Persia) | This bronze donkey Bell has a second inner bell that serves as a clapper. |
 | ghunghuru, ghungar, ghungur, ghunur, ghunghru Stearns #0139 | India India | These fifteen small brass Bells hang from a cord and function as cow bells. |
 | Stearns #0143 | Europe Italy? | This brass Bell features three decoratively cast brass sections with threaded joints and handle. The bell section contains a reservoir with perforated top for sand. The midsection has a compartment that contains writing quills. |
 | Stearns #0166 | Europe Italy? | This animal Bell is 5.5 cm in diameter and made of nickel-plated brass. Similar to Stearns #0166. |
 | pellet bell Stearns #0170 | Middle East Egypt | Similar to a sleigh bell, this brass goat Bell is 7 cm in diameter. |
 | Stearns #0255 | Middle East Egypt | This copper Camel Bell measures 15.5 cm in height and 6.8 cm in diameter (base). |
 | clapper bell Stearns #0260 | Europe Switzerland | The heart-shaped body of this Cowbell is fashioned from thin bronze, and is supplied with an iron tongue. Two long iron buckles serve to adjust the broad leather strap about the neck of the animal. The 1921 Stearns Catalogue claims that, "This type of bell is used on festival occasions to designate the finest animal of the herd. The leather strap is then profusely decorated with flowers. When the herds come from the Alps to the valley, the leader always bears the finest-toned bell." |
 | Stearns #0480 | Europe Switzerland | The pine body of this Bird Call has at its lower end a painted wooden bird which turns as the piston is pressed while simultaneously causing the pitch to change. The wood bird has a gray back, red throat and breast, and white underside. It produces the following pitches: a sharp'' and b''. See Stearns #0474. |
 | little goose Stearns #0512 | Europe Paris, France | This Walking-Stick Whistle Flute in D / Ocarina has upper half made of brass finished in simulated wood grain a lower half made of lacquered bamboo with a German silver tip. The handle of the walking stick is a metal Ocarina that is molded in the shape of a small bird; it has ten tone holes with solmization syllable cast next to each. The upper section of the walking stick is fitted with six finger holes and two tuning holes. The first section reads, "CH. MATHIEU / MQUE DEPOSEE / (within lyre) [monogram] C M / MEDAILLES D'OR / BREVETE / S.G.D.G." |
 | czakan, walking-stick flute, cane flute, Stockflote Stearns #0513 | Europe England? Germany? | This is a Walking-Stick Fipple Flute in D has five stained cocus wood sections with nickel-plated ferrules (one missing) and an ivory cap. It has one nickel-plated key of shallow cup type mounted in a bulbous ring. There of finger holes of various sizes and two tuning holes. There are nickel-plated pillars on either side of the head section intended to receive a decorative cord. |
 | Stearns #0578 | Europe Germany? | This Walking-Stick Flute in D has four boxwood sections (including terminal section) with maple cap. It has engraved brass ferrules and a terminal mount with steel tip. It has one brass key of the flat, rectangular flap type mounted in a channel that has been cut into the tube. It has two ivory-bushed holes above the embouchure hole that is intended for decorative cord. |
 | Stearns #0579 | Europe Italy? | This Walking-Stick Flute is made of painted sheet metal (black, gold) with metal bands simulating ferrules. It is not playable. |
 | Stearns #0588 | South America Mato Grosso, Brazil | From the 1921 Stearns Catalogue: This bird-call from Matto Grosso consists of a brown globular gourd into which a beating reed--fashioned from a stalk of cane--is inserted. |
 | Stearns #0642 | Europe Toggenburg, Switzerland (Alt St. Johann) | This Walking-Stick Clarinet in C has four stained boxwood sections: two body sections, a mouthpiece cap with threaded brass ring, and a non-functional terminal section. The cane is ingeniously carved to simulate natural knobs in the stock. It has brass fittings, and a head cap with horn fitting and mother-of-pearl inlay. It has five wooden keys carved to simulate the texture of unfinished wood; the keys are cup type mounted in knobs. There are tenons with brass reinforcing rings; and brass reinforcing pins can be found in both body sections. It has a ebony mouthpiece. The first three sections are marked, "[five-pointed star] / AMMANN [five-pointed star] / C". |
 | Stearns #0643 | Europe Paris, France | This Walking-Stick Clarinet is made of two sections: a one-piece painted metal body with nickel mouthpiece and a painted bamboo terminal section with steel tip (missing). It has a threaded nickel-plated protective cap for the mouthpiece. It has no keys, instead, there are nine finger holes plus two tuning holes. The cap is marked, "CH. MATHIEU / B.TE S.G.D.B. / MQUE DEPOSEE / [on lyre, initials:] C M / MEDAILLES D'OR / [floral vinstems]". It is similar to Stearns #0512 and #0575 (walking-stick flutes). |
 | Stearns #1308 | Europe Markneukirchen, Germany | This Walking-Stick Violin has a cover that completely conceals the presence within of the violin. It was invented after the mid-18th Century by Johann Wilde, a German musician at the Imperial Court of St. Petersburg. The maker of this instrument, Moritz Gläsel, was born in Vienna in 1829 and died in 1917 in Markneükirchen. He was a good violin maker and an expert on old instruments. |
 | czakan, walking-stick flute, cane flute Stearns #1591 | Europe Pest, Hungary | This Walking-Stick Fipple Flute in A is made of a boxwood head section and one-piece body. The mouthpiece/handle and terminal section is of maple. The brass terminal mount has a steel tip. The flute has seven silver keys of shallow cup type with shell-shaped flaps that are mounted on knobs or in channels cut directly into the tube. It also features an ivory-bushed thumbhole, tone holes with keys brass-bushed, and two tuning holes. The second and third section are marked, "[coat of arms] / AU. BLESZNER / IN PEST". |
 | Stearns #2500 | Oceana Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea | This is a Pig Whistle from the Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea. This instrument comes to the Stearns Collection from Dr. Vida Chenoweth, classical marimbist and ethnomusicologist. |