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Encyclopaedia of the North East

T - Tinker to Turra Coo

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A large printed capital letter T with horns, a lantern, pipes, a silver box and a group of small boxes of various shape and style.
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tinker 
1 n An itinerant pedlar or trader, freq living in a tent, caravan etc, and dealing in small metal wares, brushes, baskets etc. 18-. 
2 Now usually 'tink', contemptuous term for a person 19- 

A roaster, a toaster, a brander, a strander, a wee bit jug for the bairn the day, good wife. If ye'll no buy that will ye no buy anything at aa? Could ye no gie's a wee bit o butter the size o a bum bee's knee tae the eye.
Tinker quoted by housekeeper of Brownhill Farm, Auchterless, 20th century.

Powder horns. Two flattened horns decorated with incised rosettes and knotwork, with brass spouts.

Powder horns made of ox horn, made by a tinker, Aberdeenshire (late 17th cent.)

ABDUA:18017, 18034

Lantern. Cylindrical tin lantern, about a foot tall, with a conical roof, and windows made of glass. The surfaces are decorated with punched lines and dots.

Tin and glass lantern, Aberdeenshire (early 19th cent.)

ABDUA:18608

Horn sheets. Three rectangular sheets of clear horn.

Sheets of horn made by a tinker (19th cent.)

ADBUA:17642

Pipe case. A brass case for a pipe, which opens at the cup of the pipe.

Brass pipe case made by a tinker (late 18th - early 19th cent.)

ABDUA:15873

Letter box. Rectangular box made of silver, with a border of dense punched lines on the lid.

Letter box made by a tinker from melted down crown pieces, reputedly the box used by John Brown to deliver Queen Victoria's correspondence, Balmoral (mid 19th cent.)

ABDUA:17643

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tobacco n 
A solanaceous plant Nicotiana tabacum from America: once prepared its leaves can be smoked, chewed or snuffed. 
tobacconist
1 n A smoker (obs) 
2 n A seller or manufacturer of tobacco.

Snuff mull. A an oval shaped silver box set between the horns of a ram. The box has a thistle engraved on it and the initials PW.

Snuff mull made from a ram's horns (18th - early 19th cent.)

ABDUA:17978

Clay pipes. Two small clay pipes, one stamped with laurels and a crown.

Clay pipes, Aberdeen.

left: 18th cent.

right: 19th cent.

ABDUA:18403, 18396

Pipe. An ornate pipe, consisting of a white cup gripped by a hand with a shirt cuff joined on to the handle. The cup is labelled Presented by Queen Victoria to Her Commissioner Dr. Profeit at Balmoral. The pipe has a black leather case lined with green silk.

Pipe given to Dr Profeit by Queen Victoria (late 19th cent.)

ABDUA:18412

Tobacco jar. A large painted red jar almost a foot tall, vase shaped with a flared base and a body that bulges out toward the top. Painted on the front is a gold label with the appearance of drapery with the word MIXTURE on it.

Tobacco jar (19th cent.)

ABDUA:15872

Snuff mulls. Nine snuff mulls in various shapes: boxes made of wood and inlaid horn and ivory, spiral shaped horns, a miniature wooden shoe, a horn with the tip carved into a monster's head, and a repurposed bronze axe head.

Snuff mulls (18th - 19th cent.)

Clockwise from centre top:

ABDUA:18153, 19282, 18135, 18150, 18151, 17977, 18176, 19669, 18134.

Tobacco box. A round brass box with components on the lid shaped like a star and an anthropomorphic sun. The sun's rays are engraved onto the lid.

Tobacco box which belonged to John Rinny who was a member of the hammermans guild. Inscribed 'All arts do stand by hammer and hand' (1755).

ABDUA:18180

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Turra Coo 20c
A cow which was distrained for debt in 1913 because of the refusal of her owner to pay his employees' National Insurance contributions (Turra = Turriff, town in Aberdeenshire).  

Lloyd George's Insurance Act compelled farmers, like other employers, to pay national insurance contributions on their hired workers... Things boiled over in 1913, when Robert Patterson, of Lendrum, Turriff, was taken to court for refusing to pay... the Sherriff issued a warrant allowing law officers to seize enough of his property to satisfy the debt. They chose to poind a white cow - the celebrated Turra Coo. In December 1913 the law officers were unwise enough to try and sell the cow by auction in Turriff Square. A riot broke out... the cow was driven off... It all provided a running joke at the authorities' expense: but the serious point was that, once again, capitalist farmers had organised peasant fractions in defence of specific capitalist interests.
Ian Carter 1979 'Farm Life in North East Scotland'

Photograph of the Turra Coo. A white cow with the words LG & COO LENDRUM TO LEEKS painted on its side is led past a crowd of men, young and old, wearing caps, jackets, shirts and ties.

The Turra Coo on the way to being sold.

T - Tinker to Turra Coo