A unique Victorian-era object donated to a Nelson charity shop has created quite a buzz, with staff curious about its unusual history.
Nelson Environment Centre chief executive Anton Drazevic said the item was dropped off to its reuse shop a few weeks ago, they weren’t sure by who, but it arrived about the same time as a donation of vintage medical equipment.
“It was clear to us that this piece was from the early 20th century. It is beautifully crafted and we were not quite sure what it was, it’s a mechanical device with a hand-held crank.
“Our first thoughts were it may be a portable blood pump, because of its oscillating end.”
Because of its unique nature, it was passed on to the team’s digital sales expert to do some research, and online investigation made reference to it being a “hysteria curing device” or a Victorian-era vibrator.
Research showed the same device, complete with an attachment, was sold at an auction in Germany recently. Images of other similar devices showed various attachments made from wood and rubber.
Drazevic said because this one arrived without an attachment, the centre had sourced a wooden ball to fit on it.
The mechanical-looking item was donated to the Nelson Environment Centre's ReUse shop in Tahuanui. Photo / Nelson Environment Centre / RNZ
“We believe that this was invented for doctors of their day, because their hands were getting quite sore from manually relieving ladies’ hysteria, so this device was developed for them.”
Hysteria was a frequently recorded illness of women from ancient times through to the 19th century, often a catch-all diagnosis given when doctors couldn’t come up with any other explanation for their symptoms.
By the turn of the 20th century, physicians Sigmund Freud and Joseph Breuer had co-authored Studies on Hysteria, which is often considered the founding text of psychoanalysis and showed that physical manifestations of hysteria were not a result of nerves or disorders in the body, but were instead brought on by mental trauma.
The idea that such devices were created to cure hysteria in women was described in a book called The Technology of Orgasm by American author Rachel Maines, and went on to inspire the 2011 film, Hysteria.
The book claims 19th-century doctor Joseph Mortimer Granville invented the electric vibrator, a percussive device that was called Granville’s Hammer, to treat hysteria in women by bringing them to orgasm.
However, many historians believe it was not created to be used as a sexual device, but to relieve muscle aches in men.
Anton Drazevic says the item was dropped off at their reuse shop. Photo / Nelson Environment Centre / RNZ
Granville himself has been said to have written, “I have avoided, and shall continue to avoid, the treatment of women by percussion, simply because I do not want to be hoodwinked, and help to mislead others, by the vagaries of the hysterical state.”
Cultural historian Dr Fern Riddell, who wrote The Victorian Guide to Sex, has said while studying towards her PhD on pleasure, morality and sin in London’s Music Halls between 1850-1939, she looked for evidence of doctors masturbating their patients and using vibrators to do so, but was unable to find any record of it happening, in written accounts or in doctors’ notes from the time.
British classicist Helen King told RNZ such devices were probably created as part of a much-wider interest in the potential medical powers of electricity, as massage devices for odd aches and pains.
“In a historical period in which orgasm was seen as debilitating, then therapeutic masturbation would not be regarded as a great idea.”
However, she said like anything else that vibrated, the devices could well have been used in that way.
Drazevic said he was curious about where the object had come from — and it was one of many interesting and unique items donated to the ReUse shop in its 30-year history.
“We’ve had a bag of gold, we’ve had guns, pretty much you name it and it’s come in here at one time or another. We have had vibrators be donated, it is a pretty odd thing to donate to a second-hand shop and they end up in the bin, but I’ve never quite seen anything like this before.”
He said the challenge was now to work out what to do with the device. Research had shown there was a newly established Vagina Museum in London and the Good Vibrations Antique Vibrator Museum in San Francisco, but he planned to ask Te Papa Tongarewa if it had any interest in collecting it.
“I would hope a piece like this would stay here, it found its way to New Zealand so I think we should keep it.”
