A rag-and-bone man or ragpicker (UK English) or ragman, old-clothesman, junkman, or junk dealer (US English), also called a bone-grubber, bone-picker, chiffonnier, rag-gatherer, bag board, or totter, collects unwanted household items and sells them to merchants.
The “rag and bone man,” also known as the bone-grubber, bone-picker, rag-gatherer, bag board, and totter, has been in existence in England since the Middle Ages; he would lead a horse and wagon around villages calling out for rags and bones.
The rag-and-bone man, with horse and cart, was once a common sight on British streets as he collected second-hand goods from door-to-door. These enigmatic figures ringing a brass hand bell and calling out 'rag n' bone! ' or 'any old iron! ' would send people rushing to their doors with their unwanted items.
Real rag-and-bone men are a rare and dying breed in London. Their sons have traded in the horses and carts and now own junk shops, house clearance or scrap metal businesses. You do still see the odd totter, in Mitcham, Deptford, or around Shepherd's Bush, looking out-of-place in the heavy late 20th-century traffic.
Noun. rag-and-bone shop (plural rag-and-bone shops) (Britain) A dealership selling cheap unwanted second-hand goods, or bric-a-brac, that have been collected for nothing as disposable items.
A ragpicker is a person who collects wastes in a bag from the street and locality such as polythene bags, toothbrushes, used plastic items, empty tins, bottles, paper, etc.
A rag-and-bone man is a person who goes from street to street in a vehicle or with a horse and cart buying things such as old clothes and furniture. [British] Rag-and-bone men trot past on horse-drawn carts. regional note: in AM, use junkman, junk dealer.
Guided by a strong British tailoring influence, rag & bone produces classic yet modern sportswear for men and women that is known for being understated and wearable.
Bone grubbers would scavenge and pilfer bones from outside houses so they could sell them on to to bone mills where they would be used for soap and other products. Something to think about when you're in the shower.
Based on a short story written by Walter Wangerin Jr, and directed by Dale Ward, it stars Allen Marsh as the “Ragman,” a man that walks through the city streets pulling a wagon of rags. He yells “Rags” like a salesman, but he doesn't sell them. He gives them away.
The rag and bone man with his horse and cart was once a common sight on British streets as he collected second-hand goods from door to door. These enigmatic figures ringing brass handbells and calling out "rag and bones" or "any old iron" would send people rushing to them with their unwanted items.
It was extremely common back in the 1970s to hear a rag and bone man calling to householders as he travelled slowly down our roads, shouting 'old lumber', 'rag-and-bone' or something similar. As some will also no doubt remember, the profession even spawned a hit TV show in the 1970s in the guise of Steptoe and Son.
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Ever wondered where the term “on the rag” came from? A controversial term for menstruation, the phrase is thought to have originated in the late 19th century. Before the invention of modern pads and tampons, there were various techniques women used to manage menstruation.
The Ragpicker represents one of the practitioners of a now-obsolete profession that involved sifting through the detritus of daily life—not only rags, which were sold to paper manufacturers—but also kitchen scraps, soap and other castoffs that were left out for trash collectors.
In Seemapuri one can see more than 10,000 rag-pickers who live in strucutres of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin. They are devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. They live without an identity except a ration card for voting and buying grain. They remain barefoot and garbage to them is gold.
