I’m going to pick out my favourite English Mansion toys and tell you all about them in a series of blogs called ‘These are a Few of My Favourite Things’. So in no particular order:
No. 8 – Violet Wands
Violet Wands (or Rays as they used to be called) are control boxes with handles into which glass electrodes, of various shapes, can be plugged into. When switched on the glass bulbs which are filled with gas light up and glow. This is usually a blue or violet colour but there are other colours, as it is dependant on the gas inside. To use it you hold the wand just over the skin, not touching it and allow the static electricity to jump (arc) across. You can actually see the spark.
In BDSM they are perfect for teasing genitals or already redden bottoms. They remind me of the sensation of candle wax (but without the mess) it’s a small intense tingle or prickly vibration, it’s hot but doesn’t burn or leave any marks. The box can be turned up or down and different electrodes will produced different sensations and intensities. There are also a few metal electrodes which are much more powerful.
Violet Ray Boxes were developed in around 1900 as medical devices offering a now obsolete medical therapy called electrotherapy. Basically they were a ‘cure-all’, ‘quack’ boxes taken around by traveling salesmen who made various claims about their restorative and therapeutic abilities. There’s no evidence they have any effect positive or negative, however, I imagine the wonder of them may have had a placebo effect on an awed public.
They work using the principal of a Tesla Coil, invented by Nikola Tesla in 1891. A Tesla coil is an electrical resonant transformer circuit which produces high-voltage, low-current, high frequency, AC (alternating-current) electricity. Think about the effect you can get after wearing a hat or brushing your hair when it goes all flyaway (actually it happens a lot when you’re wearing rubber) or when you rub a balloon to stick it to the wall – well that’s static electricity. What’s important about a tesla coil is that its low current makes it very safe.
I love this funky 60’s Holo-Electron Violet Wand with unusual white glass electrodes, which was a gift from a slave.
They are still used today for some dubious beauty treatments and are call High Frequency Boxes. Back in the 70’s it was claimed they could help cure male pattern baldness and lots of modern boxes with rake style shaped electrodes were sold.
You can buy lovely reconditioned Violet Wands from Nick and Morphia.com
