Who's for a Game of Cards?

 

QUESTION: Recently, while browsing though an antique shop, I came across two tables. Both had fold-over tops. One seemed like it was from the 18th century, the other from the Empire period of the 19th. The dealer unfolded the top of the older table to reveal a green felt cloth inlaid into it. He said that this was a card table. When he unfolded the top of the second table, it had no felt inlay and was plainly finished. He told me the second table was a tea table. I always thought they were both card tables. Can you tell me the difference and when card tables started to be used?

ANSWER: There’s a difference between the two tables, although subtle. Back in the 18th century, furniture was expensive as each piece was handcrafted to suit the customer. People woud have used their card tables as tea tables by just putting a tablescloth over it. But by the 1840s, furniture had begun to be at least partially machine-made, and manufacturers kept the cost down by making card tables plainer. 

Playing cards were probably invented during the Chinese Tang Dynasty around the 9th century as a result of the usage of woodblock printing. Playing cards became a diversion both in public houses and private homes. Early playing cards had neither suits nor numbers. Instead, they had instructions or forfeits for whoever drew them. Usually, playing cards revolved around drinking alcohol, especially in the public houses.

The earliest game involving cards occurred on July 17,1294 when the Ming Department of Punishments caught two gamblers, Yan Sengzhu and Zheng Pig-Dog, playing with paper cards. The Department confiscated the wood blocks used for printing the cards together with nine of the actual cards. By the 11th century, playing cards had spread throughout Asia and eventually made their way to Egypt. Playing cards probably came to Europe from the East, arriving first in either Italy or Spain.

By the early 18th century, specially made tables for playing cards began to appear all over England. The first card tables first appeared in the American Colonies around 1710. Card tables became symbols of wealth and the consequent expansion of leisure time and soon became a social necessity in every fashionable home. Without modern entertainment devices, about the only forms of evening entertainment was playing music, dancing, and of course, playing cards. 

Cabinetmakers constructed most of these imported English card tables of mahogany or walnut. Each had a hinged two-leaf top that, when open and supported on a swing leg, revealed an inner surface lined with leather, felt, or the coarse woolen cloth called baize. Since household lighting was usually inadequate for evening play, most of the tables had four turrets projecting from the corners to accommodate candlesticks. In addition, there were often “guinea pools” or “fishponds”—shallow dishlike depressions to hold money, dice, or counters—and, in Chippendale styles, a single drawer in which to keep the cards. The tables stood on graceful cabriole legs, meant to resemble a woman’s shapely calves, but their backs, unseen against the wall, remained unfinished.

Since so many of these tables were highly decorative and also bore their makers’ marks, they provide valuable evidence of the varieties of carving, inlay, veneer, and other detail used by the cabinetmakers, as well as of regional characteristics. Tables with bowed fronts were popular in Boston and Salem, and five- and six-legged examples appeared in New York.

Some people used card tables for purposes other than for playing cards. Unfortunately, tablecloths only covered over the fishponds, often causing accidents and breakage.

In Puritan New England and Quaker Philadelphia, as well as in the South, people bet huge sums on cockfights and horse races, on bull and bearbaiting. Doctors and lawyers would wager their fees at the card table, and the “devil’s prayer book”—a deck of playing cards—could be found everywhere.

From the beginning of the United States, gambling overpowered every effort to restrain it. By the late 18th century every fashionable home had a card table. Still, most households reserved the card table for recreational use.

In the upper-class 18th-century American home, ladies played cards at afternoon tea parties where guests might win or lose hundreds of dollars. In the evening, families would summon servants to bring the card table into the center of the drawing room after dinner, as card playing was a primary form of evening entertainment. Players became embroiled in spirited games of whist, a simpler foreunner of bridge, pokerlike brag, quadrille, or any of the several other games while spectators observed the action. 

When not in use, card tables in most households remained folded away to become consoles or side tables. Servants set card tables against the wall when not in use, sometimes with the upper half raised as a kind of ornamental backsplash.

After about 1840, card tables began to lose the felt inlaid on their surface. People still played cards but now these tables came into popular use as tea tables. With a smooth top, minus the fishponds and candlestick rests—indoor lighting had been much improved—it was now possible to place a tablecloth over the table without the fear of anything toppling due to the former depressions. In many cases, these table featured graceful rounded corners and were still being made of mahogany or walnut.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Age of Photography" in the 2023 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Anyone for Tea and Cake?

 

QUESTION: Ever since I was a little girl having tea parties for myself and my dollies, I’ve loved little cups and saucers. One of my grandmothers gave me a little tea set for my sixth birthday. I loved that set. Soon my tea parties expanded as I invited my girlfriends to bring their dollies over to visit. As I got older, my interests changed until one day while helping my mother clean our attic, I found my original miniature tea set. Since then, I’ve been collecting miniature cups and saucers. I would love to enhance my collection. Can you advise me on how to do that?

ANSWER: What a charming memory. Collecting miniature cups and saucers and even whole tea sets has been a popular pastime for many people. The chief advantage is that because they’re small, they take up less space, making them ideal for those living in condos and apartments.

Children’s tea sets, first produced for the children of the wealthy, seem to have been created before potters discovered the formula for porcelain in Europe. Metalsmiths crafted the earliest ones of pewter or copper, and in some cases gold or silver. Children’s toy tea sets first appeared in 16th-century Germany, a country known for producing toys in wood and metal.

Porcelain children’s tea sets didn’t appear until the 18th century, but just like the silver and gold ones, only the wealthy could afford them. These sets were generally of very high quality, and people kept them for special occasions. Children’s tea sets didn’t become popular household items until the early to mid 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution. The Universal Exhibition of 1855 in London seems to have been the starting point of their expansion. 

In Colonial America, tea was a family event, with everyone enjoying a break during the day. No doubt make-believe tea time and pretend tea drinking were a part of some children’s playtime activities. Perhaps many little girls played at serving tea and dreamed of having a tea parties of their own. The pieces in these sets usually imitated those in regular sets, differing only in size. Though children’s cups and saucers look like traditional tea cups, only a bit smaller than demitasse cups. The handles were small, and not easy for adult hands to hold.  

Collectors love miniature cups and saucers for their variety, in shape, style, and decoration. They can be classified in two distinct styles—dollhouse-size miniatures and toy-size. 

Dollhouse-size miniatures are the smallest—usually scaled an inch to the foot. During the late 18th century, English and continental makers produced dinnerware sets for fashionable ladies to furnish  miniature rooms in large dollhouses. By the 19th century many more companies produced these sets, making them for both children's and adults' dollhouses.

During the Victorian era, wealthy families furnished a nursery for their children. While adults took tea in the parlor, the children had theirs in the nursery. This practice required child-size tea sets. Teacups held three or four ounces, just the right size for three-year- and up. Manufacturers decorated these pieces with animal themes, nursery rhymes, airy .tales, children's activities and the art of famous illustrators

First made n the early 19th century, Staffordshire ABC ware included more than 700 patterns. The alphabet appears on each piece. In the case of a small one, such as a tea cup, which was too small for the entire alphabet to fit, English manufacturers made the letters smaller or used fewer of them. Today, children's size miniatures are the most abundant and reasonably priced. American production of children's ware reached a peak during World War II before the less costly Japanese ware became available.

Mary of Teck, wife of George V of Great Britain, who reigned from 1910 to 1936, was an avid collector of dollhouses and miniatures. Because of her interest, the hobby regained popularity in the 1930s through the 1950s, making early dollhouse-size miniatures rare.

Toy-size miniatures are larger than the dollhouse-size but smaller than child's size. Novice collectors often mistake them for salesman's samples. These toy-size miniatures served several purposes. First, collectors could display them in a cabinet. Second, they taught children of wealthy families manners and social races in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Makers frequently decorated these teacups and saucers with historical scenes and mottoes.

Manufacturers produced these toy-size cups and saucers in the same forms, shapes and styles as the full-sized ones of the period. The potters of Nuremberg, Germany became famous for their miniature tea sets, decorated in vivid colors. Early tea bowls and saucers made by Meissen occasionally come up for sale. The Dutch produced small pottery items decorated in blue and white in the 17th century and introduced them to England in the 1690s. Soon "baby house waresº were part of Staffordshire potteries’ stock.

Companies such as Coalport, Minton, Spode and Worcester produced miniature creamware, stoneware and porcelain cups and saucers in the 19th century. The Dresden studios decorated miniature cups and saucers, often in the popular quatrefoil shape, in the late 19th century.

The most common examples of toy size cups and saucers found in the marketplace today date from the 20th century. In France several companies in the Limoges area produced them around the turn of the 20th century and still make them today. RS Prussia manufactured examples of lovely molded cups with leafy feet and unusual shaped handles around 1900. English potteries, such as Shelley, Crown Staffordshire, Copeland Spode, Wedgwood, Royal Crown Derby, and Coalport miniature tea sets with trays, which were exact replicas of full-size sets. Collectors especially like the Royal Crown Derby pieces, decorated in the Imari patterns. Probably the hottest miniature cup and saucer in the marketplace today are those made by Shelley. The price for a cup and saucer can reach as high as $250 to $300. In the United States, Leneige Company and Gort China made miniature cups and saucers from 1930 to the 1950s.

The creation of early plastics and Bakelite in the late 19th century marked a huge change in children’s tea set design. Manufacturers still made them in porcelain and more durable stoneware, but plastic sets soon began to emerge. By the mid 20th century, plastic sets and sturdy stoneware became the norm. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about old-time winter objects in the 2022/2023 Winter Holiday Edition, with the theme "Winter Memories," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Stirring Up the Witch’s Brew

 

QUESTION: One of my favorite times of the year is Fall because it brings with it Halloween. And my favorite Halloween motif is the witch—riding her broom through the crisp night sky. For years, I’ve collected all sorts of items having to do with witches. Recently, I visited Salem, Massachusetts, site of the infamous Salem witch trials. The place was just brimming with all sorts of Salem witch souvenirs. I almost went nuts. Can you tell me how witches got to be so popular? And are any of the souvenirs sold in Salem collectible?

ANSWER: Witches haven’t always been a popular fun motif. For centuries, being accused of being a witch often meant death by some horrible means—often being burned at the stake. Superstition ran rampant in past times when science was in its early stages and religion and mysticism ruled.

Though hunting down witches had been going on for centuries, it really got a kick start in 11th-century Europe when accusations of witchcraft fell upon anyone who did any sort of perceived evil deed. This was especially true of persons, usually women, who made herbal medicines and recipes for spells to cure the sick. 

The Puritans came to the New World to escape persecution and ended up being more intolerant than anyone. They brought with them all the superstitions they had lived with in their home countries. And that included their belief in witchcraft.

Salem was a depressing place in 1692. Neighbors bickered continuously over boundary lines and politics. The strict demands of Calvinism allowed no frivolity and little joy. Work lasted six days a week and on the seventh, people spent their day listening to dire warnings of Satan's nearness by harsh, punitive ministers. One of the most evil of temptations was sexuality. Fear and repression filled the Puritans daily lives. The settlers feared attacks by Indians and had only recently recovering from a smallpox epidemic. Any activities that stimulated mental or physical excitement were deemed sinful. So it’s easy to see how a group of teenage girls with an excess of energy and pent up emotion, coming in direct conflict with severe repression, could become obsessed with their own wild imaginings, and sexual fantasies.

But scientists and historians now believe that the hysterical girls were victims of either a poisonous fungus found in the bread made and eaten in the settlement or from hallucinations they suffered from the hemp they chewed to make it pliable for making rope. But the stage had long ago been set for the tragedy that was to befall those girls. Historians believe that over 9 million people, nearly all of them women, were the victims of witch hunts and burnings for five previous centuries.

In Europe, witch hunting was a profitable business. Local nobles, bishops. judges, magistrates and others all received a share of the wealth created from the picked pockets and stolen property of arrested citizens. Local government officials charged victims for the ropes that bound them and the wood that burned them. It wasn’t much different in Salem. Those who were jailed had to pay the jailer for food and the chains that held therm. Officials confiscated personal property to pay increasing debts. Some people who were later released fought for years to reclaim their stolen property.

Though original artifacts from this time period are rare, memorabilia such as Jonathan Corwin's trunk, accused Mary Hollingsworth English's sampler, Philip English's chair, cane and bottle and John Proctor's brass sundial do exist. There are also 552 documents related to the trials, known collectively as "The Salem Witchcraft Papers," including arrest warrants, examinations and death warrants. Also in this collection are the witch pins, claimed by the accusers to have been used by the "witches" to torment their victims. 

Victorians of the latter part of the 19th century loved to travel. And visitors wanted to take home souvenirs of their journeys, either natural or manmade. Daniel Low, the owner of a gift and silver shop in Salem, decided that the town could benefit from the types of souvenir pieces he had seen during trips to Europe. He first created a silver spoon with a witch design, complete with a broom and the word “Salem.” Low marked it "D Low Sterling" and a circle D for Durgin Silversmiths on the reverse side. Its popularity soon encouraged him to create another. As his spoons began selling wildly,  the witch image quickly became Salem's symbol. Low was the first to make souvenirs for tourists in the U.S.

Low patented his witch design on Jan. 13, 1891. The second spoon pattern, introduced in 1893, was much more ornate, having in its design a witch on a crescent moon, a cat, the three pins, the date of 1692, a hemp rope and a handle of a witch's broom. The design twines around the back of the spoon and shows the frayed end of the rope.

The success of these spoons was so enormous they began a souvenir craze across the country. Low then began a line of items for the Witch City trade that would he imitated by towns and cities across the United States, Canada, and Europe. He offered quality sterling silver souvenir items that included tea strainers, bookmarks, perfume bottles, matchsafes and dishes. Soon tourists insisted on more items at a moderate price. 

Other companies jumped an the souvenir bandwagon, creating items of china, glass, pottery and celluloid. Souvenir manufacturers presented dishes, sewing equipment, household implements, dresser items, and jewelry, for sale to eager tourists. 

Photography had come into its own by the last decades of the 19th century and postcards became a popular souvenir item. Tourists snapped them up. In fact, Jonathan Corwin's home where the trials took place, called the Witch House, has been pictured on postcards so often over the years, that postcards eventually documented changes in the site. So many publishers and printers have produced cards of this structure that prices are low because they are so common. They usually range between $1 and $6.

A variety of Salem witch souvenirs, including pins, spoons, plates, sheet music, and postcards sell for $40 or so at auctions. Spoons can sell for $150 or more, depending on their condition. 

While most people are familiar with the Salem witch trials, few know that the Salem witch memorabilia associated with the trials helped to launch the American souvenir industry.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the Sears Catalogue and the items sold in it in "Sears' Book of Bargains" in the 2021 Fall Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Cream of the Crop

QUESTION: Last year I went antiquing in the English Cotswolds. In nearly every shop I went into, I saw at least one or more little cow creamers waiting for new homes. How did these little ceramic accessories come about and why did they choose to make them in the shape of a cow?

ANSWER: Originally made in England, then in Scotland and America, these unique creamers were the pride and joy of many late 18th and early 19th-century English housewives, both rich and poor. They kept these spotted bovines sitting on top of their dining room dressers, ready to use on special occasions.

These pottery cow creamers are little jugs standing firm on all four legs. They’re  usually about six inches long and four to five inches high. Housewives would pour fresh cream through a hole in the cow’s back, then seal up the whole with a cover. Unfortunately, many a cow creamer today is missing its cover. The cow’s curved tail served as the handle while its mouth served as the spout.

Cow creamers are among the oldest forms of decorative tableware still in existence today. Their ancestry can be traced back  to a decorative European jug used for washing the hands before and during a meal called an “aquamanile.” These jugs were very fancy and often doubled as a centerpiece. Ironically, an aquamanile had many of the same features as a cow creamer—a body in the shape of an animal standing square on its legs, a tail arched to meet its back that served as a handle, a hole in its back by which the jug could be filled, and a gaping mouth from which to pour the water.

Made from gold, silver, bronze, or pewter, the aquamaniles were most commonly shaped like lions, sometimes encrusted with precious stones.

It was the Dutch that chose the cow as the shape for the cow creamer which became a luxury accessory.

During the 18th century, coffee drinking became popular among the social elite of Europe. The new coffee ritual demanded novelty jugs to hold the cream. Those depicting a cow with a bee perched on its back were the most popular.

Initially, silversmiths created cow creamers in different sizes but using the same freestanding cow. There were all sorts of whimsical variations—some had garlands around their necks, hinged lids, or handles shaped like flies, bees, or flowers. But when the Dutch began making the creamers in tin-glazed Delftware, the fencegates opened and a whole herd of creamers rushed out.

The first cow creamer came from the Whieldon Pottery, which imitated the silver cow jugs made in 1755 by John Schuppe. The most well-known of these had a mottled brown tortoise shell-type glaze. Others had brown and yellow spots, black with a criscrossed yellow pattern, and even light blue with yellow circles.

But the clay was more difficult to control and sculpt than metal, so the potters introduced a few changes to the design to make it conform more to the different material. While a silver cow could stand directly on its legs, a pottery cow could not. This necessitated the addition of a base to help stabilize and strengthen the clay.

It seems every potter added his touch of whimsy. In fact, there are almost as many different decorations as there are creamers.

 potters also crafted these unique little jugs, essentially copying from the earlier Whieldon design. None of these have markings on the bottom. The Welsh potters added their own creative touches to their cow creamers. Many decorated them freehand or applied transfer designs of rustic farm scenes. After 1850, the Scots developed a love affair with the cow creamer. Scottish potters experimented with sponged decoration and brightly colored glazes.

After the American Revolution and into the early 19th century, imported English pottery became too expensive, so the United States Pottery in Bennington, Vermont, began making its own version of the cow creamer. Each cow had crescent-shaped nostrils, open eyes, folds in the neck, and visible ribs. I guess the American cows weren’t as well fed as their English, Scottish, and Welsh cousins. After Bennington closed in 1858, its potters sought work at potteries in Ohio, Maryland, and New Jersey, taking their skill at making cow creamers with them.

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Good Night, Sleep Tight

QUESTION: My mother was an avid tea drinker, so she began to collect teapots. While she had some nice ones in her collection, she didn’t focus on value as much as she did on what she liked. She passed away last year, and I inherited her teapot collection. I, too, love to drink tea. I think I’d like to enhance her collection, now mine, by focusing on unique or unusual teapots, culling out the ordinary and focusing on the extraordinary. Recently, I bought an unusual teapot at a flea market. The dealer said that it was a “nightlight” teapot. I had never heard of such a thing, but she said she really didn’t know much about it. What exactly is a nightlight teapot and how does it differ from an ordinary one?

ANSWER: First, let me congratulate you on planning to enhance your mother’s teapot collection and take it as your own. Too many people who inherit someone else’s collection either sell it off or stash it away. They become the caretaker of the collection, not the curator.

I, too, never heard of a nightlight teapot until recently. Basically, it’s a bedside porcelain teapot that sits on a warming stand. The light from an oiled wick or tiny candle not only kept the tea warm but also served as a nightlight since the light from the flame flickered through the vents and through the porcelain, itself.

During the 18th century, like now, people often enjoyed sipping warm cups of tea just before retiring for the night. So bedside porcelain teapots became wedding gifts. In the days before electrical lighting, they served a dual purpose. They not only allowed people to take some sips of warm tea at bedtime but also emitted a soft diffused glow. People referred to these teapots as veilleuse-theieres.

The earliest veilleuses, used as food warmers for porridge, soup, or an invalid's drink in sick rooms or hospitals, had a bowl instead of a teapot on a stand. Later, the teapot replaced the bowl and veilleuse-theirres came into use. The French used them as a way of brewing and serving tisane, an floral or herb tea, to restless babies during the night. Not only did they offer a warm liquid for a restless infant or sick person, but also  afforded a night light in the sick room long before electricity. Most were translucent, making them useful as well as ornamental.

People filled a small boat-shaped or rounded vessel known as a "godet" with nut or vegetable oil, then floated a wick on top. Not only was the porcelain translucent, it also had been tempered to withstand heat for a long period.

By 1830, veilleuses made for the wealthy began to be more ornate and decorative, with some in the form of figurines or personages and others with insignia or crests.

Between nine and twelve inches tall, some of them looked exactly like what they were—teapots seated on warriors, fine ladies poised with fans, and monks clutching wine bottles. Others had smooth facades decorated with historical and literary scenes.

Although made for 100 years, between 1750 and 1860, information about veilleuses is hard to find. Most references simply document where someone purchased them, not their place of manufacture. Most of the factories that produced them didn’t place identifying marks on the bottom, making them extremely hard to identify.

Veilleuse-théières reveal ingenuity, attention to detail, and their creators’ sense of humor. Noses of the grotesques serve as spouts, as do the upraised hands of some figurine-styled pieces. One teapot made to look like a cottage had a cat perched on the roof that served as its handle.

Because of their fragile nature and their continual use, few veilleuse-theieres have survived.

Veilleuse-theieres sometimes mimic their origins. A delicate, skylark green, fluted teapot and pedestal veilleuse, translucent as an oriental lantern, hails from Hong Kong. A brown slated “roof” teapot tops a veilleuse-theieres that, down to its French advertisements, resembles a Parisian kiosk. A white and gold laced Gothic style veilleuse-theiere recalls windows of the great French cathedrals. Other architectural veilleuse-theieres include a towering turret, a quadrangular Normandy house, and a Spanish windmill.

Veilleuses also came in the shapes of all sorts of animals. A gold encrusted Spanish pig grotesque, its snout poised to pour, displays a scroll depicting scenes of Hades. A Siamese elephant, dashing in candy striped pants and blue waistcoat, pours from his nose. A tasseled Tunisian camel rests en route, while his mistress peeks out from her curtained howdah.

Many veilleuse-theieres are figural, bearing no outward resemblance to teapots at all. Some are pure whimsey. A rosy cheeked cupid, draped in blue splendor and cradling a golden pitcher, for example, sat astride a long-haired goat. A maiden straddled a fearsome, multi-colored dolphin.

Other figurals, however, appeared more realistic. A Turkish turbaned warrior twisted his mustache while fingering twin daggers in his cummerbund. An inscrutable, mustachioed Chinese Mandarin proffered a china tea cup on high. A courtesan, enticing in gilded and ruffled petticoats, fluttered her fan. All of these, at first glance, are simply exquisite porcelain creations. Yet somewhere underneath their cunning and fanciful features, lay utilitarian teapots combined with night lights.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about Colonial America in the Spring 2018 Edition, "EArly Americana," online now.

Who Will be Mother?

QUESTION: I love to drink tea. In fact, I began drinking it when I was about 10 years old. I love the aroma and the steam that comes from the cup as I put it to my lips. Of course, as a tea afficionado, I always brew loose tea. But what I can’t stand are the bits of leaves that always seem to end up in the bottom of my cup. A tea strainer is a necessity if brewing tea from leaves. I always had a simple one that fit over the top of my cup and let me pour the tea through it, collecting the dregs in the strainer as it went. Last year, I attended an antique show and treated myself to a beautiful sterling silver tea strainer. I love it. So much so that now I’d like to begin collecting them.                        

ANSWER: People have used tea strainers for centuries. During the 18th and 19th century, when having tea was an important social event, silversmiths made tea strainers for wealthy tea drinkers. Since no one liked fishing loose tea leaves out of their teacup, strainers became a popular tea accessory. Tea strainers enabled hostesses to filter the leaves out while pouring tea in each person’s cup.

After it’s introduction to Europe, tea drinking began to inspire elaborate serving conditions. Unlike in China or Japan where tea drinking had a religious significance, tea drinking rituals in the West emphasized tea’s exotic origins and the server's wealth. Over time, an assortment of locked storage containers, special serving vessels, measuring spoons and other implements became part of any tea service. And, unlike the Chinese, who simply dumped tea into the pot and poured carefully, Europeans devised strainers to remove not only the leaves but also stems, grit, and other debris often found floating in the tea.
                   
By the 17th century, strainer spoons to remove the "motes" or tea debris with perforated bowls and pointed ends for clearing teapot spouts became common.

Toward the end of the 18th century, the silver cup strainer, adapted from wine strainers and from larger two-handled silver punch strainers used to extract lemon and orange juice used in other beverages, appeared. For tea, the cup strainer had one or two handles of silver or other material and fit over the cup to filter tea as it was poured.

By the 19th century silver craftsmen experimented with various designs to secure the cup strainers to the teacup. Some had two handles that straddled the cup while others were made with clasps to clip onto the edge. They also developed stands to support the strainer when it wasn’t in use and to catch the drippings.

Teapot spout strainers, featuring a pierced basket or bucket-shaped strainer with long pins to be inserted in the spout, were another tea trapping device developed in the late 18th century. As a person poured the tea, it flowed through the strainer and into the cup. Although they dripped tea on tablecloths, their dainty appearance and intricate piercings made them a highly desirable tea accessory. Spout strainers were more fashionable in Europe than in America and silver manufacturers created many novelty forms such as helmets, buckets and shells.

In the mid 19th century a new development in brewing came in the form of the tea infuser, also known as a tea ball. Tea balls are perforated, spherical containers made in two parts and connected either by a hinge and clasp or by screw threading.

Tea balls not only trapped tea leaves, but contained them within the pot for the brewing. Tea balls weren’t made in America until after 1880, but they quickly became the most popular tea strainer form used in America. More than 60 prominent American companies, such.as Gorham, produced them in quantity and in whimsical shapes, such as grapes, walnuts, lanterns, faces, teapots, shells, cauldrons, fish, Earth, and the Liberty Bell.

There have also been square tea balls, both an oxymoron and a rarity. A particular favorite is a curled-up dormouse, recalling the unfortunate creature dunked into the teapot during the Mad Hatter's tea party in the children's classic, Alice in Wonderland.

The last form of tea strainer to be invented appeared in England in the 1890's and quickly found its way to the United States. The stick infuser or spoon infuser, consists of a covered spoon-like bowl perforated on both lid and bowl. Like tea balls, tea drinkers filled the stick infusers with tea leaves, but unlike the tea balls, people used them to brew one or two cups of tea. Like the tea ball, the stick infuser gained popularity in the United States. Again. manufacturers presented numerous design variations, replacing the spoon bowl with a ball or heart shape and using different handle forms made of bone, porcelain  and wood. Some stick infusers with upright handles resemble pipes, while others resemble a pair of tongs or an egg on a stick.

The development of the tea bag signaled the end of mass production of silver tea strainers. Today, the tea strainers of the 18th through the early 20th century stand as valuable reminders of the importance of aesthetic pleasure in a social ritual—the serving of tea.

Learn more about the tea experience by reading "The Origin of Afternoon Tea" in #TheAntiquesAlmanac and also about sterling silver tea sets in my Google+ Collection, Antiques and More.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the Victorians in the Winter 2018 Edition, "All Things Victorian," online now.  

Giving New Life Through Restoration

QUESTION: For years I also collected antiquities. Now I have a particular passion of writing boxes or old English boxes. I enjoy to restore by myself. I beg to ask for an opinion. I attach here two photos. On the lid, at the corners, something is missing! Do you think the angles were made of brass? Or in wood ... or mother of pearl? I doubt it because the thickness is a lot (about 3 mm.) Then I had never seen the brass corners that did not go vertically.

ANSWER: The corners on your box would have been brass, so if you can find someone to make these for you, they should be easy to replace. Be sure to glue them with a strong glue. Box makers usually used brass on the corners of better boxes to protect them while traveling. Victorians took writing and other types of boxes along on long trips so that they could communicate to their friends and family back home. It’s not unusual to find boxes from this time period in poor condition. Restoring them is not as difficult as doing furniture but can be challenging.

Antique boxes acted as portable storage workhorses for past generations. They served a variety of purposes from document boxes in which to keep valuable papers to writing boxes for correspondence to dressing boxes for grooming while traveling to tea caddies for storing precious tea. Victorians, in particular, loved boxes and people from all classes used them.

Unfortunately, people handled boxes a lot, so most antique ones aren’t in the greatest shape. Some boxes may have sat on a table in front of a window in the sunlight and became faded over time while others suffered from neglect.

A good example is an Indian sadeli mosaic-covered writing box that outlived its usefulness. Someone decided that instead of tossing it out, they would give it to their children to play with. The children drew all over the beautiful mosaic with crayons and someone did a bad job of pasting a piece of chartreuse felt over the writing surface on the inside. Needless to say, this restoration wasn’t a walk in the park.

Unlike antique furniture made before 1830, many antique boxes will benefit greatly with even modest restoration. And since they’re not large, it doesn’t take a lot of materials or time to restore them.

Antique boxes are valuable because they’re antique and looking old isn’t bad. And while restoring a box may make it look better, it may reduce its historical value. Boxes from the 18th century should only be restored by a professional restoration expert. In most cases, they need to be conserved, that is the deterioration of the box should be halted. Restoration is a more radical solution and often includes refinishing the wood and replacing metal parts. So the question to be asked is whether the box is in bad enough shape to render it less valuable than its being restored?












While restoration usually begins with reviving the wood of the box’s body, it also takes in exterior decorations made of ivory, tortoiseshell, and mother-of-pearl. These materials are all fragile and should be checked for cracks, abrasions, and chips. Metal ornamentation may be missing, dented or creased, or it may just need polishing. Veneers and inlay are much more difficult to repair and may require professional assistance.

Antique boxes also contain small and sometimes specialized hinges and locks that must also be examined for repair, restoration, or replacement. Finding replacements can be a real challenge since many of these may have been made for a particular box.

But minor conservation can do wonders for an antique box. First, tighten any loose screws and gently tap in any loose nails. Repair loose joints with wood glue. Finally, clean the box with a soft lint-free cloth dampened with Murphy’s Oil Soap solution. Do a small area at a time and use another lint-free cloth to dry it. After letting the box dry thoroughly for 24 hours, give it two coats of Minwax past wax to protect the exterior. Follow the directions on the can.




Dust the interior of the box with a soft shaving brush. If the wood is bare, as with some inner areas of the box, switch to a solvent-based cleaner. Use a toothbrush or toothpick to clean out any crevices. If this has markedly improved the box’s appearance then it may be a good time to stop.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the Victorians in the Winter 2018 Edition, "All Things Victorian," online now.