Some weird UK shop still sells twisted cord, I think it's 20 pounds/m!
I have a real old twisted extension cord I suspect it is from the UK as the conductors are black and red inside the brown cotton covering. Still in pristine condition, so I use it to power my old soldering iron and other small items like cell phone charger, radio,...
That type of cord used to be real common before and shortly after WWII here. It was also very common for surface-mount fixed wiring on porcelaine or glass insulators, and there are some houses where such wiring is still in use with 230V, for example a real old farm (oldest parts around 1500, latest extension 1905, along with the first electrical wiring) where some relatives of mine live. The wiring is real beautiful, after I get the film developed I'll post some pics of K&T wiring and porcelaine rotary switches.
Concerning flea markets and other second-hand sales there'S an unwritten law here: if you buy faulty equipment it's _your_ fault, not the seller's, _you_ should have noticed. It's usually a good idea to first visually inspect and the plug in everything before buying. The sellers usually tell you everything works, even if you can clearly see all tubes in the radio are missing for example. Or they say they plugged it in and everything worked fine, even if you can see a dead arcing short in the cord. It's the eastern mentality. Some people say the balcans start in Vienna.
