Newel post caps: The finishing touch

Staircases grand and modest are finished with a finial, a largely decorative element also known as a newel post cap, the same as what George Bailey repeatedly grabs a hold of in "It's a Wonderful Life." Correspondent Mo Rocca looks into plain and fancy versions of this ornament, past and present.
#newelcap #Morocca #itsawonderfullife ife
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[@robinsonsomething]

Hooray for architecture nerds! Love this kind of segment ❤👍

[@hummersd]

Who would've thunk that would be that interesting, but it was! 👏 to Mo and team for a great segment!

[@kelleengrimm4366]

The leaves are that of a thistle. It's an Artichoke.

[@amyporter9806]

Agave plant

[@JillWhitcomb1966]

This was fun, interesting, and informative. Thanks !

[@jamesbaldwin7676]

In my state, it was a beehive final. The Victorians often surmounted their starting newel posts with bronze sculptures and or elaborate lamps (sometimes lit with the newly discovered electrical power.) Beneath the caps and stashed within box newels, were hiding places for the deed to the house etc. I'm surprised they didn't show the newel cap on the Titanic getting shot to pieces, as Jack escapes. It's mostly all in the past now but what fun it was.

[@TRGRFNGR]

So true..."beauty is very important in life"

[@lisamann8521]

Love this segment even more, lol! ❤️ Great info on something small yet beautiful

[@jennyharwood6379]

Mo is my favorite!

[@steveconn]

That's beautiful work.

[@007Julie]

Mo never lets us down, another great snippet of history. I could watch him do 5 hr documentaries on anything. Is it a pinecone or a pineapple? Let’s ask the descendants of the one who carved it!

[@jlasf]

All the Newels That's Fit to Print.

[@bennyboogenheimer4553]

It's CORN, The first job of every Master, in any country id to feed his people. It might be England, but corn still grew/grows there!

[@trixiebeldon579]

Pinecone definitely a pinecone🌲 Great story and I learned something new 🎄 happy holidays, Mo

[@samanthab1923]

Always had a thing for pine cones. As a kid there was an estate in my neighborhood that had huge pines, like Rockefeller Ctr. tree size. I would collect the tiniest pine cones from them. Later at a flea mkt. found some monsters & of course always saved the gold or snow sprayed ones from my wreathes.

[@thyslop1737]

Bailey mansion amazing.

[@jlasf]

"This drafty old barn! Might as well be living in a refrigerator. Why did we have to live here in the first place and stay around this measly, crummy old town?" - George Bailey (before)

[@samueljaramillo4221]

Does it matter what they are? They’re beautiful.

[@donaldhammond9142]

Fascinating and enjoyable! Saw staircase scene in The Lost Weekend( Milland/Whyman) wow look at that!

[@rr7firefly]

Pine cone. A pineapple does not have an elliptical profile. Check that out the next time you go to the grocery store. And as for its size -- on the West Coast there are several species that have enormous cones. BTW: the scroll work on the balustrade of the Met's wooden staircase is even more impressive than the conic newel cap.

[@florinest]

Why would a pinecone have leaves attached to it at its base?

[@lewstone5430]

@Me & Me because it’s a stylized pinecone. Now run along.

[@gemmeldrakes2758]

The staircase was rescued from an English stately home. It is not likely that the carvers would have seen large pine species from the US west coast, much less seen their giant pinecones.. Some breeds of pineapple do have a bit of a domed/elliptical profile. Americans are just used to the nearly straight sided ones from Hawaii. 🍍

[@rr7firefly]

@@gemmeldrakes2758 The Holdford's pine cone is familiar to Brits, probably because that species grows in England. There are others. Both have a pointed (elliptical) profile. What species of pineapple were you citing in your argument? The fallacy in your argument is that on a pineapple there is always a green topping of leaves at the smaller end. Yes, a cluster of green leaves. Clearly different from a pine cone.

[@rr7firefly]

@@florinest Have you ever taken a good look at a pineapple growing while still attached? There are very many images of them on Google. They all show long spiky leaves, not at all like the ones on the newel post, which actually remind me of acanthus leaves, a favorite of classical devotees (think Corinthian column capitals). The wooden object in question is most likely a stylized interpretation by an expert carver, who was putting different things together for the most pleasing aesthetic effect. It was not intended to be an accurate depiction.

[@cremebrulee4759]

So interesting.

[@yodheyodhe]

pine cone. Great piece

[@joeybaseball7352]

You waited until Christmas to air this segment just so you could play the scene of the Christmas movie.

[@n.d.7931]

I have to visit there now, and yeah I have to agree with the others who say it's corn

[@ColumbiaQT2001]

I totally understand Clark Griswald.

[@wyrdsister]

It’s an ear of corn.

[@lordburgendy6108]

It looks like corn to me. 🤷‍♂️

[@maxlinder5262]

Pineapple 🍍!!!

[@romstar]

I thought it was a corn on the cob!🌽🌽🌽🌽😂😇

[@MrMatteNWk]

Stereo sound messed up?

[@ampdesign]

My mom is now having a "Tip of my tongue" moment and can't place a tv show or sitcom with a newel cap that the family would move up and down the stairs.

[@e.u.f.613]

Brady bunch?

[@ampdesign]

Ended up being Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

[@amyporter9806]

I think its an agave with the tines carved off

[@ninjaswordtothehead]

It's an artichoke.

[@HOHLfmly]

Maybe an artichoke?

[@florinest]

I vote Pineapple because pinecones don't have attached leaves.

[@LindaC616]

And pineapples have them attached at the top not the bottom

[@garypeterson1342]

I think its an artichoke.

[@BradThePitts]

It's a pine cone - a Christian symbol that symbolizes birth and life. They are seen all over the world, and they are even seen on the tops of the outdoor light fixtures around the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.

[@aagie9097]

Pinecone.

[@marialloyd9527]

Pineapple

[@AntiloquaxNomad]

Pineapple or coconut. It's possible that the person who created never saw the original plant in-person.

[@LindaC616]

And if you think it's a coconut, neither have you

[@AntiloquaxNomad]

@@LindaC616 Go look at artwork of coconuts from the time period and you will see similarities, Linda.

[@janlamm4799]

pinecone

[@kellyburns5032]

It’s a pine cone.

[@Creole_Lady]

Pine cone

[@xx1983xx]

Pineapple 🍍

[@luckyelfie]

We have lost so much as a society with our race into the “modern” world.

[@yvonneplant9434]

But a lot of those people back then were progressive in the late 19th century/ early 20th. Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive.

[@DavidFilmore]

100% not a pinecone. Pinecones grow on pine trees, and pine trees don't have leaves.

[@billybob2372]

If I owned that place I would let my gsd roam too. I mean you would have F U money

[@DickNasty480]

Just a couple of queens gabbing

[@alexthompson9516]

Lol

[@yvonneplant9434]

So? Those are the people who care about this stuff.