About this lot

Description

c1775, 5 by Thomas Wallis II and 5 by William Chatterton, all with pierced arms and monogrammed bows, 12.5ozt gross (10)

Footnote: Cast tongs followed on from the earlier scissor action tea tongs and were the first of the bow shaped devices designed for picking up lumps of sugar. Made in three sections - the two arms and the connecting bow - they were deceptively complex to produce and were very quickly superseded by the easier to make, and less expensive, sugar nips. Few now survive undamaged, partly due to the two joints which formed the construction failing through use. Cast tongs were only made for a short length of time, c1765 - c1780, and are now rare and collectable.

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