antique hair curling iron (or crimper)

Origin (Late 19th Century): This specific design became highly prominent in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was widely popularized by a French hairdresser named Marcel Grateau in the 1870s, who invented the “Marcel Wave”—a stylish, deep-grooved hairstyle that required specialized metal tongs. [1]

The “Tuning Fork” Illusion: Unlike modern scissor-like curling tongs with pivoting clamp pieces, this earlier style consists of a solid, single-piece metal frame with two separate parallel rods or slots. Because there is no hinge or moving clamp mechanism, its silhouette perfectly mirrors a tuning fork.