Michael Culloden, Belfast.
Pictured below is a Brass 2 pillar corkscrew clearly marked on the handle CULLODEN BELFAST.
A cutler from Belfast, Corn Market, Michael Culloden was an Irish cutler who was working at a similar time as Thomas and John Read plus the likes of Thompson who are all known to have made similar Irish mechanical corkscrews.
This corkscrew was made in about 1830, unfortunately little more is known of this Irish corkscrew maker. Many collectors do have later similar examples of this classic design in their collections broadly known as "Farrow & Jackson" type corkscrews, sometimes marked with the makers details but more often not. These types can be found in steel but more often were made in brass or bronze. Occasionally the odd example crops up with a leather bottle neck cover, to protect the glass bottle when in use, these are very desirable examples.
Below are some images of a rare bronze example of later date, these are seen in steel but this is the only bronze example I have ever seen. The "Farrow & Jackson" types came after the example shown below by many decades.
There are some nice details to this corkscrew, it has a more slender butterfly top handle than those found on later examples and the lighter bottle ring also points to it being made at an earlier time than the "Farrow & Jackson" type examples.
