Chain reaction

I have been following Blossom's Minnow blog with enormous interest - it is quickly becoming a vast repository of information and memories and anecdotes that will surely be a treasured resource in years to come - not to mention right now.

I'm going to be cheeky and put in a request for Blossom to tell us about chimney chains... their purpose, origins and most importantly design and decoration. I have all these lovely brasses


and I want to know how to attach them to a chain - and what sort of chain it should be - for best effect.

Of course, I couldn't find a decent photo of a really good one (Plover has one, but it didn't show up properly in any of my photos), but any excuse for a picture of a cute dog.

I know the tale, of course, about chains being made from the brass fastenings salvaged from gas mask cases - and modern chains that you buy new with their flat links would seem to be based on this. But WWI or WWII gas mask cases? And in any case, what did they do before the relevant war? I'd have guessed that ordinary brass chain would have been used, but in that case, why does no one seem to use it today even on boats done up in earlier styles?

So much I don't know, but someone out there will have the answers.