Trivets and Tulips: Some Oddities Found

Not that long ago, I came across a couple of unexpected artifacts in the house, and thought I'd share some photos here.

The first items are an old iron trivet and carpenters stamp. I found both in the deep recesses of the attic. The trivet has a design I've seen numerous times before on antique trivets, and the stamp is a number "6" or "9", depending on how you hold it. I have no idea how old either is:



The other item is an old tulip cover, sealing the flanged opening, or "tulip", where a stove pipe once led into the chimney. The cover is located in the second floor chimney bay. Again, I am not sure how old it is, nor how long it's actually been there, although it's probably been in its current location for the past 60 or 70 years, when the house's wood stoves were most likely removed. The design on it is particularly intriguing:



I have yet to search under all the attic floorboards, so who knows what other interesting things might still be uncovered? And I also plan to do non-invasive, sonogramic investigations of each of two original, plaster partition walls on the second floor. Given that one of these walls defines what was probably the old borning & sick room, it wouldn't surprise me if it held a pair of concealment shoes for protecting against evil spirits. Now that would be an amazing discovery!