Objects Database

Acorn & Brass Nut (for rock climbing)

Accession Number

1672.2022.1

Object Name

Acorn & Brass Nut (for rock climbing)

Created

05/08/2022

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

05/08/2022

Brief Description

Acorn and brass nut on cord.

Materials

Aluminium , brass

Dimensions

Acorn-2.5(L) cms brass nut - 1(diameter) cm

Number Of Objects

2

Inscription Description

"2 00" on acorn

Colour

silver, gold

Maker

Acorn - John Brailsford

Object Production Place

England

Provenance

When it comes to vintage rock climbing gear, this little Acorn along with the brass nut, are pretty much the Holy Grail.
Climbers have been jamming pebbles and nuts ( as in nuts and bolts) into cracks and rock fissures and threading rope around to make an anchor up to 1961 when blacksmith and mountain guide, John Brailsford, created the Acorn, fashioning it from a piece of extruded aluminium alloy and adding the wee brass nut allowing for a choice of placements if the Acorn was slid down out of the way.
The Acorns are thought to be the world’s first commercially produced form of rock protection, quickly followed by another Brailsford invention, the M.O.A.C, a wedge shaped piece of aluminium which was to become infinitely more popular than the Acorn and still retaining a cult following 60 years later.
It seems the Acorn came in three sizes, ours being stamped ‘2’, and were marketed by Roger Turner’s Mountain Shop down in Nottingham initially, though the arrival of the M.O.A.C. seems to have eclipsed the Acorn somewhat.
We found this particular gem in a pile of old gear which comes from ….somewhere(?)

Acquisition Date

05/08/2022

Condition Check Date

05/08/2022

Rules

Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007

Modified

05/08/2022

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