Early Brass Tapersticks Tapersticks,
tiny candlesticks, often used to soften wax for sealing envelopes. 

Smaller: Nuremberg, Cermany, ca. 1650. Just 3 3/8 inches tall. Made in two parts, the thin, finely turned broad bell base supporting an integral dished round mid-drip pan, fitted with a screw-threaded baluster-turned post and cylindrical candle cup which is capped by a downward sweeping bobeche. The base, drip-pan, and candle-cup decorated by incised lines.  As typical with Nuremberg candlesticks, the brass is very thin as brass in Germany at that time was taxed based on the weight, so the makers, using great skill, developed a means to craft them very thin and light. This distinguishes Nuremberg candlesticks from Scandanavian, which were not taxed on weight and were therefore often much heavier.  Presents beautifully yet small tear in the candlecup and lead-tightening of the screw thread. See Old Domestic Base-Metal Candlesticks, Michaelis. page 65, and Antique Brass Candlesticks, 1450-1750, Grove, pp. 24-25, for very similar examples.

Taller: True Queen Anne Cut-Corner Base Brass Taperstick, likely Birmingham, England, ca. 1730-1750. . (not one of the many later Victorian reproductions). Seamed column and the column peened underneath to the base About 5 ¼ inches tall. Stands straight. See the best reference: Birmingham Brass Candlesticks, Jean Burks, for insights into cut-corner and other forms of Queen Anne candlesticks.