Nutmeg Graters Pomanders and Spice Boxes

Graters, Pomanders Spice Boxes NUTMEG and

John Reckless is a retired consultant physician and endocrinologist who started to collect antique kitchenalia (much being mechanical) in the 1980s.

His fascination with nutmeg paraphernalia was spurred by the discovery of a cast iron mechanical grater in 1990. Collecting and researching graters and pomanders has led him to visit the Banda Islands and Grenada, as well as giving him the opportunity to delve deeper into areas of social and historical interest.

Front cover Top left: ‘Pumpkin’ grater, Edward, Edward Jr, John & William Barnard, London, 1846

NUTMEG

Graters, Pomanders and Spice Boxes Luxury and utility from the 16th century to the present day

For centuries, in caravans across Asia and then in small ships, men brought to Europe the fabled spices of the East. One such spice, growing only on a few small tropical islands, was a small perfumed nut.

Nutmeg: Graters, Pomanders and Spice Boxes explores the story of nutmeg, revealing its extensive and often surprising influence over conflict, politics, social mores, and Western society. Beautiful antique silver, gold, enamel, bone, ivory, treen and Tunbridge ware graters and rasps demonstrate how much nutmeg was valued throughout history.

Combining the social history of nutmeg with explanations of the spice production and transportation process, and generously illustrated throughout, this book is the essential reference work for collectors, antique dealers and auctioneers.

Middle left: Pomander, silver and part gilt, unmarked, Europe – probably England, c.1660–1680 Middle right: Gold filigree cylindrical nutmeg grater, unmarked, London or Birmingham, c.1780s Bottom left: Silver-mounted cowrie shell nutmeg grater, unmarked, almost certainly London, c.1690s Bottom right: Whitewood Tunbridge ware nutmeg grater modelled as a cottage, unmarked, South-east England, c.1790s–1830s

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Back cover Top left: Multi-compartment spice box and nutmeg grater, unmarked, c.1800s

JOHN RECKLESS

Top right: Cast iron nutmeg grater, J.M. Smith, Seymour Connecticut USA, 1870

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Middle: Unfolding ‘vase’ grater, Thomas Phipps and Edward Robinson II, London, 1809 Bottom left: Unfolding cylinder nutmeg grater, unmarked, India – Trichinopoly (now Tiruchirappalli), Tamil Nadu, mid-19th century Bottom centre: Enamel ‘egg’ nutmeg grater, unmarked, probably Birmingham, early 1760s Bottom right: Gold nutmeg grater, Maker ‘GL’, probably Giles Loyer, London, 1814

ISBN: 978-1-78884-145-0

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CONTENTS Preface with Acknowledgements 1.

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History of Nutmeg and the Banda Islands 8 Grenada and Nutmeg Production 18 Early Spice Boxes, Pouncet Boxes and Pomanders 26 Posset Cups and Wassail Bowls 34 Late 17th and Early 18th-Century Nutmeg Graters 37 London Vase, Urn, Acorn and Mace-Styled Nutmeg Graters 46 Apple Corers with Spice Casters, Late 17th Century 53 17th-Century Nutmeg Grater Fashioned as a Mandolin 54 The Phipps Family 55 Table Graters 64 Florence Nightingale 75 The Street Seller of Nutmeg Graters 76 Travelling or Campaign Condiment or Spice Box with Nutmeg Grater 77 Puzzle Boxes – Snuff and Nutmeg 78

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London Makers of Small Nutmeg Grater Boxes Silver Barrels Silver Graters in the Form of an Egg Unfolding Cylindrical Graters in Silver British Naturalistic Nutmeg Graters American Naturalistic Nutmeg Graters American Non-Naturalistic Nutmeg Graters Kitchen and Mechanical Nutmeg Graters The ‘Toymakers’ of Birmingham and Silver Nutmeg Graters Chester Nutmeg Graters Exeter Nutmeg Graters Newcastle Nutmeg Graters Norwich Nutmeg Graters York Nutmeg Graters Scottish Nutmeg Graters Sheffield Silver Nutmeg Graters Irish Nutmeg Graters Austro-Hungarian Nutmeg Graters Italian Nutmeg Graters

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Dutch Nutmeg Graters French Nutmeg Graters Maltese Nutmeg Graters Russian Nutmeg Graters Indian and Ceylonese Nutmeg Graters Chinese Nutmeg Graters Old Sheffield Plate, Silver Plate and Electroplate Base Metal Graters: Tin, Japanned and Cast Papier-mâché and Nutmeg Graters Flat Rasps Nutmeg Graters in Etuis Brass Nutmeg Graters Nutmeg Graters Made of Bone Ivory Nutmeg Graters Glass and Old Sheffield Plate on Copper Nutmeg Grater Enamel Nutmeg Graters Cowrie Shell and Tortoiseshell Nutmeg Graters Nutmeg Grater Boxes in Gold Coquilla Graters

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Tunbridge Ware 249 Treen Nutmeg Graters Modelled as Fruits and Nuts 261 Treen Barrels 262 Treen Nutmeg Graters in the Form of Bottles 263 Miscellaneous Treen 266 Mortars and Pestles 269 Boxes for Junket 271 Wood and Metal Spice Boxes 272 Treen Spice Towers 278 Not for Nutmeg 280 Nutmeg Novelties 281 ‘A Xmas Grateing’ 284 Valentine Graters 284 Too Much Nutmeg 285 Graters with False Marks 286 Nutmeg and Mace Tins 289

Appendices 295 Bibliography 300 Indexes 301

CHAPTER 1

History of Nutmeg and the Banda Islands Famine and fortune, war and turmoil, have followed nutmeg over several hundred years.

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or centuries, in caravans across Asia and then in small ships, men brought to Europe the fabled spices of the East. A very few succeeded, bringing them a lifetime’s fortune, and tens of thousands died in the process. Much of this was about a small perfumed nut, in pursuit of which the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British battled from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The high value placed on cloves, nutmeg and mace, growing on a few very small tropical islands, was the cause of the strife.

It was not just for the pleasurable aroma and flavour of these spices in culinary use that the battles took place but also for their perceived medicinal and disease-preventative qualities. It was for nutmeg in particular that the competition and battles occurred.

Its very rarity in medieval times made it even more sought-after.

Plague was no respecter of status in life, of aristocrat or servant, but nutmeg was thought to prevent it or ward it off. Perhaps the irony is that the very ships that brought in the nutmeg to Europe also may have brought in, or helped to spread, the rats which reputedly spread that plague.

From the tiny Banda Islands in the remote Molucca archipelago in Eastern Indonesia came nutmeg and the mace that surrounds the nut. Why the Myristica fragrans nutmeg tree was so locally confined here is unknown. Cloves were similarly localised in adjacent islands, the whole group known collectively as the Spice Islands.

This book explores the story of nutmeg from medieval times through to current production in the Banda Islands and in Grenada.

Nobility, and the very rich, carried pomanders perfumed with expensive balsams. These were made by apothecaries with mortar and pestle, many recipes of the apothecaries using nutmeg butter.

Rasps and graters in the 17th century were followed by table and pocketable boxes to store and grate nutmeg which have continued to be used for over three hundred years. This book illustrates the very wide range of graters and spice boxes in many materials and discusses how and where, in many countries, they were made.

The trade in spices and nutmeg influenced social mores and customs. For silver items tax or duty was often required, and hallmarking tells us much. For some it is possible to consider who had once owned a particular grater.

8 | History of Nutmeg and the Banda Islands

Where Are the Spice Islands?

The Spice Islands are a tiny group of islands in Eastern Indonesia, hidden away in the Pacific Ocean. To the south are Timor and Darwin, Australia. To the north are the Philippines with China and Japan beyond, and to the north-west Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar.

The Molucca (Maluku) islands are many, mostly volcanic and potentially active, with some being coral islands. It was after his

Map of the Molucca (Maluku) islands [Lencer (own work, used: Maluku Locator Topography.png by Sadalmelik)/creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode]

(Left) Map of the Molucca islands and surrounding area (Bellin), c.1760. Seram (Ceram) is towards the lower right, with Banda just to the south. By the 1760s geography and mapping were becoming more accurate, with Borneo and the Philippines shown. [Map Courtesy Librairie Le Bail]

(Below) This world map by Johann Huttich (c.1480–1544) and Simon Grynaeus (1493–1541), entitled ‘Typus cosmographicus universalis’ is from their book Novus orbis regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum una cum tabula cosmographica of 1532. The map itself was probably based on earlier knowledge but has much added artistic representation such as a galleon, sea-serpent and mermaid. Putti or angels at the poles might be turning the Earth even though Copernicus’ publication was a decade later. The corners of the print illustrate features of travel to the corners of the world, and top right there are images of trees bearing pepper, nutmeg and cloves. The tree images are perhaps imaginative rather than representative. [Map Courtesy Chiswick Auctions’ Books, Manuscripts & Works on Paper Department]

History of Nutmeg and the Banda Islands | 9

CHAPTER 2

Grenada and Nutmeg Production G

renada is a small mountainous East Caribbean island extending to 21 by 12 miles in size with a population of around 111,000.

Seen by Columbus in 1498, the island was then populated by Carib Indians.The French took the island in 1650 and the last Carib Indians committed suicide a year later. British and French navies fought to control the island and its harbours for nearly a century before the island was ceded to, and controlled by, the British in 1783. The capital, St George’s, was defended by Fort George (1705) and Fort Frederick (1779) which were built by the British overlooking the harbour and town. Grenada gained independence from the United Kingdom and joined the Commonwealth in 1974.

With the island’s pleasant tropical climate and many beautiful beaches tourism has now become very important to the Grenadian economy.

It is perhaps a surprise to find that this small island had become the second biggest exporter of nutmeg and mace accounting for approximately 25 per cent of world production. The tree is not native to Grenada but was imported (as was the case with all the world’s nutmeg trees) from the Banda Islands in Indonesia.

In the 1840s some Grenadian planters were recruited to the East Indies to help with the sugar industry. One, Frank Gurney, is said to have brought plants back to the Belvidere Estate in northwest Grenada in 1843 (Brizan 1998, pp. 331–332).

Nathaniel Hawthorne, surveyor at Salem Massachusetts customs house recorded on 4 June 1848 a brig carrying ‘Four Boxes Nutmegs’. It is likely that these were of Caribbean origin which would indicate nutmeg tree planting for at least a decade before that date (Bonhams 2015).

An alternative date of 1773 for nutmeg’s introduction comes from a story about Louis La Grenade (1733–1808), of French descent, who was one of the first men ‘free’ from the plantation system. La Grenade, who had acquired land in St Paul’s, Grenada, had sugar plantations. It is said that a Dutch missionary who had taken passage on one of La Grenade’s schooners, La Louise, gave him some ‘dried nutmeg seeds’ from the Banda Islands together with an exotic liqueur formula (which continues still as La Grenade Liqueur). However, the early date of this story is not likely as nutmeg trees must be grown from fresh seeds and not from dried ones.

By the 1860s Grenada’s commercial exports were significant at around 53,000 pounds (24,000 kg) and commanding a price of £2,116. Exports reached over 3 million pounds weight by the 1950s.

Grenada.

During 1966–1979 53 million pounds weight of nutmeg was exported to a total value of EC$1,022 million, but the Grenada Co-operative Nutmeg Association received EC$104 million with EC$66.3 million returning to farmers. The East Caribbean dollar established in 1965 has been pegged at EC$2.70 to the US dollar.

Of the total financial value most ended overseas as there was almost no ‘added value’ production using nutmeg on the island.* In 1955 Hurricane Janet destroyed 80 per cent of the nutmeg trees. Production slowly recovered and 20 years later 18 stations on the island received nutmeg and mace, with production (drying, shell-splitting, grading) taking place at Grenville, Victoria and Gouyave.

Unfortunately, Hurricane Ivan in 2004, followed by Hurricane Betty in 2005, devastated much of Grenada, its housing, employment, tourism, and 90 per cent of nutmeg trees. By 2006 there were no nutmegs in store. Following Ivan the numbers employed at the Grenville receiving station dropped from around 160 to only 8–12

* It is of interest that in 1979 one ounce of ground and bottled nutmeg in a popular Grenada supermarket cost EC3.80$ (Brizan 1998, p. 342). This price must have been aimed at the tourist rather than the resident population.

18 | Grenada and Nutmeg Production

Exports of mace and nutmeg between 1991 and 2016. The effects of Hurricanes Ivan and Betty can be seen, with stores exhausted by 2006, and with gradual but very incomplete recovery since. Values are shown in thousands of pounds weight, in metric tons and in EC$ (1 US$ = 2.70 EC$).

depending on the season. By 2017 just the station and ‘factory’ at Gouyave handled all processing from the island, when the Nutmeg Association’s production was 500 metric tons compared to the previous 2,500 tons.

The Nutmeg Tree, Myristica fragrans All of the world’s nutmeg trees derive from the tiny group of Banda islands in the Moluccas (Eastern Indonesia).

The Dutch, in the 16th to 18th centuries, carefully controlled the distribution of nutmeg trees. Nutmeg was almost entirely restricted to the Banda Islands while most cloves were removed from Banda to Amboyna (Ambon). Some plants were taken surreptitiously by other nations to Mauritius and the Seychelles but the initial plantings were not cared for and did not survive. After the Dutch lost control the trees became quite widely distributed in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Significant production continues in Indonesia, but commercial cultivation is established in Grenada, Kerala in south-east India, and Penang in Malaysia.

Related natural cultivar species are Myristica argentea in Papua New Guinea, and Myristica malabarica in Bombay, which may be used as adulterants in M. fragrans products, but these do not have the same taste and fragrance.

Myristica fragrans is a densely foliaged evergreen tree with dark brown bark, growing to around 20 metres in height and producing small pale-yellow bell-shaped and rather waxy flowers. Almost always the trees are dioecious (that is, either male or female), a tree having either staminate (male) or carpellate (female) flowers.

Occasional trees may produce both flower types. Male flowers are about 6mm, single or in groups of up to a dozen, while female flowers, one to three together, are a little longer. Trees need to be thinned out at six to eight years old to give an optimal male:female ratio of about 1:12 for best productivity.

Propagation can be sexually by planting nuts, or asexually by grafting. New trees begin to produce fruit after reaching eight to nine years of age, attaining full maturity at 12–20 years, and perhaps living for as many as 75–80 years. Myristica fragrans often grows well under shade-trees (such as the kenari – tropical almond – tree in Banda) in a mixed, humid tropical environment. The leaves are dark green, averaging around 9×5cm in size. They alternate on their stalk with a 1cm petiole.

Trees ripen fruit at most times of the year but tend to have two or three crops a year. In Grenada there is greater production in January to August. Some trees are in plantations, but many are widely distributed in mixed agriculture with banana and cocoa.

Nutmeg thrives in rich volcanic soil in valleys with good rainfall, doing well at elevations up to 450–800 metres.

In appearance and size the fruit rather resembles an apricot, being ovoid in shape, and 6–8cm in length. The pericarp (the fruit) usually has a groove along which it splits into two when ripe.

Occasionally the fruit may split into three segments, or very rarely into four.

When ripe the firm, lemon-yellow to light-brown flesh of the pericarp splits open to reveal the bright scarlet, web-like membrane of the spice (the mace) surrounding the nut. Splitting of the fruit occurs for some days before the fruit falls from the tree. If the pericarp, or flesh, is to be used domestically or commercially the ripe fruit should be picked from the tree, while for mace and nutmeg it can be harvested shortly after falling from the tree.

From a botanical point of view, mace is an arillode or false aril, coming from an opening in the covering of the ovule instead of from its stalk. Mace overlies the dark-brown, fairly shiny brittle shell which covers the seed. Breaking the shell reveals the seed which is recognisable in the kitchen as a nutmeg.

Perhaps only locally used now, in the mid-18th century the nutmeg tree was reputedly one of the exotic woods used by Thomas Chippendale (Gilbert 1978, pp. 159, 183 & 280).

Grenada and Nutmeg Production | 19

Fig. 1 A young nutmeg tree.

Fig. 2 Early print of Myristica fragrans Houtt Köhler 1887.

Fig. 3 By the middle of the 19th century the botany related to Myristica fragrans was widely known.

This is evident from this print, plate 12 of volume 4, from the 9th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica.

This edition was published between 1875 and 1889 and became known as the ‘Scholars’ Edition’ for its intellectual rigor and the calibre of contributors.

Fig. 4 This illustration is part of a hand-coloured print, from the 1830s–1850s, of 24 mostly English plants.

Fig. 5 A mature nutmeg tree, perhaps 25–30 years old, with fruit, in a partly cultivated forest.

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Fig. 6 Immature, unripe nutmeg fruit. The mace and the shell have yet to fully develop and gain colour.

Fig. 7 Nutmeg fruits, 3 of which are ripe and split open to reveal the fresh bright red mace around the shell of the nutmeg seed.

Fig. 8 A cut fresh nutmeg and shell showing soft seed.

Fig. 9 Young nutmeg tree, around 10 years old, beginning to produce fruit.

Fig. 10 A fresh nutmeg and shell cut in half, with mace still around the shell. The nutmeg has not been dried and is quite soft.

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Fig. 11 Mace (left), nutmeg (above), outer surface of shell (below) and inner surface (right).

Fig. 12 A ripe fruit splits along a groove in the pericarp but remains on the tree for a few days before falling. The split is usually in two, but rarely it may split into 3 or very rarely 4 segments.

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Nutmeg Processing at Gouyave, Grenada It is thought that nutmeg may first have been cultivated in Grenada in about 1843 in a plantation towards the north of the island, owned by the Honourable Frank Gurney at the Belvidere Estate.

In Grenada the processing of nutmeg and mace had been at stations in Grenville, Victoria and Gouyave. Since Hurricane Ivan in Grenada in 2004, with the huge drop in production, all the processing of nutmeg and mace by the Grenada Co-operative Nutmeg Association (GCNA) is carried out in the town of Gouyave on the north-west coast where there is a large factory. The GCNA does not deal with the pericarp fruit so farmers separate the mace and the nutmegs from the fruit before it arrives at the factory.

Quality is assessed when crops are delivered to Gouyave as fruits may have been on the ground for a day or more, causing the mace and seed to become damaged, dirty or mouldy. Weights of usable mace and nutmeg are taken for subsequent payments.

The pericarp is used for making jams and jellies, and medicinal products. If the pericarp is to be used it must be from freshly picked, rather than fallen fruit, and the farmer will have made separate arrangements to deliver the fruit.

The large Gouyave factory building is on two floors, roofed to keep out rain, but with open windows to allow natural drying of the nuts by the blowing through of warm tropical air.

Nutmegs are laid a few deep in extensive racks with slatted

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Illustration of the colour change that occurs as mace dries.

bases for six to eight weeks, and are raked every day or two to ensure uniform drying. Once dry, nutmegs will rattle in the shell when shaken. The shell is then split to release the nutmeg.

Mace, pre-packed in hessian sacks, is placed in very large wooden boxes, which are sealed against insect access, for around four months to dry, by which time it will have turned to a yelloworange colour from the original deep red.

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Fig. 1 Sign in place to remind farmers about the quality requirements.

Fig. 2 The ground floor of the Gouyave building for the receiving and processing of nutmeg and mace.

The volume of nutmeg shown here is quite low as this picture was taken 7 years after Hurricane Ivan and it was the beginning of the season.

Fig. 3 Four-high slatted racks fill much of the ground floor of the building. These nutmegs will stay for 6–8 weeks until dry and they rattle within their shell. The date each rack was filled is chalked on the wood, here December 2011.

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Fig. 4 Long-handled ‘pushers’ or rakes are used every day or so to turn over the layers of nutmegs to ensure they all dry evenly. About half their initial weight is lost in the drying process.

Fig. 5 Fresh mace is bright red but can quickly darken in a short time. After some months it changes to a yellowy orange.

Fig. 6 In Gouyave mace is first placed in large hessian sacks in boxes, but previously was loose and would be shovelled out with this spade.

Grenada and Nutmeg Production | 21

CHAPTER 3

Early Spice Boxes, Pouncet Boxes and Pomanders Also the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: ‘...Take thou also unto thee principall spices: of the most pure myrrhe five hundred shekels, of sweete cinnamon halfe so much, that is two hundred and fiftie, and of sweete calamus, two hundred and fiftie: Also of Cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the Sanctuary, and of oyle olive an hin...’

Exodus 30: 23–25

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yrrh is a natural gum resin from species of the thorny trees Commiphora, used in perfume and incense.

Sweet calamus (Acorus calamus), also known as fragrant cane, sweet flag and sweet rush, has a ginger taste.

Cassia, originally from Burma (Myanmar), is from the tree Cinnamomum aromaticum or Cinnamomum cassia, which is in the same family as cinnamon. It has stronger flavour than cinnamon, and is also known as Chinese cinnamon.

A Sanctuary shekel as a weight was probably about 12 grams.

Measures of liquids were based on the amphora, a hin being about one gallon.

Egyptian herbalists or apothecaries in the temple precincts were highly skilled in the arts of producing scented oils, salves and incense.

The Ebers papyrus, dating from 1600 bc, gives around a hundred recipes. Ambergris, civet, musk, aromatic resins and perfumed flowers were used. These were for religious use until around 1100 bc when civil use (by the few) became acceptable at celebrations and festivals.

Nutmeg was traded by the Arabs from at least the sixth century and became especially sought-after.

In medieval and Tudor times nutmeg was a great rarity in England.Very limited quantities of spices were crossing Asia via land along the Silk Roads to the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and from there to Venice and the rest of Europe. With the Portuguese reaching the Spice Islands by sea via the Cape of Good Hope in the early 16th century, followed by the Dutch, supplies increased a little, but cost remained extremely high.

Personal pomanders and spice boxes appear from the last third of the 16th century, and personal silver nutmeg graters became fashionable from around 1685. Spices including nutmeg were used only by royalty and the wealthiest few in the population until well into the 18th century.

In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is an exquisite small pouncet box (p. 27, figs 2–4) dating from about 1560. It is a small cube with each side covered by a sliding lid below which are six 26 | Early Spice Boxes, Pouncet Boxes and Pomanders

equal compartments. Each slide is engraved with the royal coat of arms for England with France (see page 27, figs 2–4).

On cloth or coloured shields, for England there were three gold lions (guardant) on a red shield in the top right and bottom left quarters, while in the opposing quarters three fleurs-de-lys for France. Originally those of Henry IV (1399–1405) the arms were used nearly all the time until 1603 when James VI of Scotland also became James I of England.

Pouncet or cream boxes commonly had perforated tops

Mounted nutmeg Unmarked Germany, circa 2nd half 16th century Size: 45mm (h) A nutmeg, mounted in silver filigree with a little residual gilding, and with three small natural pearls hanging from the base.

Three of the filigree bands were fixed in place before the nutmeg was placed, the

fourth then pulled up and fixed with a pin.

The rarity of nutmeg, and its considered potential therapeutic and preventative powers related to pestilence and plague, is demonstrated by its use on a chain around the neck as a beneficial charm.

This will be the oldest nutmeg, surviving for perhaps four centuries.

golde to conteyne a pomaunder in it...’ from ‘...the Lady Margaret Strainge...’ Spices were sufficiently important to be among these offerings. One gentleman, ‘Mr. Doctor Maister’ gave ‘...twoo potts, the one of nutmegs, the other of gynger condit...’ Another gentleman’s present from ‘Lawrence Shref, Grocer’ was ‘... a suger loaf; a box of ginger; a box of nutmegs; and a pound of cynomon...’ (‘New Year’s Gifts for Queen Elizabeth’, n.d.)

From the 18th century pomanders led on to the production of vinaigrettes, most often made in London and Birmingham. These became highly popular for helping to counteract the offensive smells of the day, and perhaps also to aid those at risk of fainting or swooning. Vinaigrettes contained oils extracted from camphor, cinnamon, cloves and lavender mixed with a vinegar (acetic acid) and were placed on sponges to provide a pungent and perhaps stimulating aroma.

enclosing a sponge with perfume, or may have had creams, waxes or balsams, and would be in silver, silver-gilt or gold. They were small but came in a wide range of forms. Pomander is derived from the French pomme d’ambre (amber apple), being a perfumed ball contained within a case. Some had sections containing different perfumes. The contents were to mask foul smells, but also were thought to fight against catching ‘pestilence’ (plague) and other diseases. At such times in London, broadsides were published, such as one entitled ‘Lord Have Mercy On Us’ giving details of ‘Seven modern plagues or visitations’ blighting the city between 1592 and 1638 (McKay 2020).

Many gifts were offered by the nobility, the clergy, knights, gentlewomen and gentlemen to the monarch at the new year.

Among the gold, jewels, embroidery and clothes offered to Queen Elizabeth 1 on 1 January 1562 was: ‘...a little round mounte of

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Fig. 1 The arms of Henry IV as engraved on the box shown in on page 27 (figs 2–4).

[Royal Arms of England (1399–1603) / Sodacan / This W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Inkscape / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0] Figs 2–4 Pouncet box Unmarked England, c.1560 Weight: 34.5g Size: 31mm cube V&A 694-1926 The sides of the cube have sliding lids covering six pyramidal ‘containers’ which would have held a maximum of 4–5ml of a balsam, spice or comfit. Pouncet boxes may contain a sponge with perfume

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but perhaps this is less likely here with six receptacles with slides which would not have been watertight to hold liquid perfumes.

Figs 5–9 Comfit or spice box England, c.1630 Weight: 53.7g Size: 43×43×45mm V&A 186-1922 A hinged opening reveals a larger open section and a smaller one closed by a slide. The hidden surface of the slide is gilded and engraved with a shrouded corpse on a coffin, the end of which displays a skull. The coffin has the text ‘Let this Suffize Where Love Supplize’.

What prepared confection of sugared fruit, spice, seed or nut was contained is not

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known, but at this date the significance is likely to be in reference to plague.

For prevention of plague apothecaries produced a number of concoctions which included nutmeg and other spices The niello effect has been achieved by the floating of black wax between the silver decoration. Each panel is different. The small area of gold colour reflects a heat effect during manufacture.

Figs 10–15 Pomander Probably England, c.1600–1610 Weight: 103.2g Size: 74×38mm V&A 578-2008 This splendid pomander is made of silver-gilt, with the filigree filled with black wax to give a niello effect. The pomander

is opened by unscrewing the decorative knop allowing the six segments to hinge outwards. On the then exposed surfaces of each hollow ‘petal’ segment are delicate engraving of sprays of flowers and leaves which are not identical. The segments have removable slides which give access to the contents. Precisely what was placed in each of these by the early 17th-century apothecaries is not known but there are many recipes. Pomanders of this type are exceedingly rare but demonstrate the enormous skill of the silversmith. Owners would have been royalty, courtiers or nobility.

[The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London]

Early Spice Boxes, Pouncet Boxes and Pomanders | 27

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Figs 1–15 Pomander of apple form Probably England, 1590s–1610 Weight: 44.7g Size: 53×29mm (open diameter 64mm) The knop has a suspensory loop from which the pomander could hang from a lady’s belt. Unscrewing the knop allows six petal-like segments to open out, hinged from the base. Segments are hollow, their inner narrow rectangular surfaces closed over lower but open in upper portions, without slides to close off the interiors. Each interior segment surface is scratch-engraved in a similar pattern.

To hold in place knobs on each segment slot into holes in the hexagonal pillar which has floral-foliate decoration, the holes having slightly different heights. The outer surface of each segment is finely scratch-engraved with a portrait of one of six monarchs. With some intervening ones omitted, these may be Henry IV, Edward IV, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I. Discussed by Delieb

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(2002, pp. 75–76), a small number of these pomanders survive, but the identities of the sitters have not been precisely confirmed. What apothecaries placed within is also not known. It is said Henry VIII favoured an ambergris recipe while Edward VI and Elizabeth I used rose. As segments opened, perfume(s) would be combined. This pomander was previously in the extensive silver collection of K.W. Woollcomber-Boyce who had purchased it, from the silver dealer Biggs of Maidenhead, on 10 June 1948 for £42.00.

A very similar pomander (51mm, 41g) was auctioned as being early 17th century. The portraits were considered to follow the style of Dutch engraver Simon de Passe (c.1595–1647), and possibly to be of King Charles I (as Prince of Wales), Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII, while the woman might be James I’s wife, Anne of Denmark (Christie’s 2019, Lot 1).

Lot 1). In their December 2019 auction catalogue Christie’s record a recipe.

28 | Early Spice Boxes, Pouncet Boxes and Pomanders

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This was recounted in 1831 from the Privy Purse expenses of a 1586 ‘receipt to make a pomander’ for Henry VII’s daughter Princess Mary (to be Queen Mary). The recipe appears to be for a musk ball rather than this type of pomander. Christie’s gave the recipe: ‘… first benjamin, storax, calamite, and labdanum, finely levigated, and dissolved in a little rose water over the fire. The composition was then taken out, and powder of cinnamon, sweet sanders and cloves added to it, all of which were well mixed and rubbed together. After this, ambergris, musk, and civit, of each three grains, were prepared, the first being dissolved and mingled with the other two . . . take your pome and by degrees to gather up the last three ingredients, kneading and mixing them well with the ball, till they become perfectly incorporated with…’

Figs 16–20 Pomander Unmarked

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Probably Germany or England, c.1600– 1610 The silver exterior is highly decorated, with scrolls, roses and a winged cupid on three segments, with naked figures in cartouches on the other three segments.

Loosening the screw top allows the six segments to fall out. The interior is gilded with scroll decoration. Segments are closed by slides which are plain apart from content names of ‘ROSEMARIN’, ‘CANEL’, ‘NEGELREN’, ‘MUSKAT’, ‘SCHLAG’ and ‘BERNSTEIN’, the first five being rosemary, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and apoplexy. Bernstein may refer to ambergris or to fossilised amber, for in Low German amber was known as berne-, barn-, börnstēn.

In some pomanders the base may also be a container for balsam. The central column may contain a small gilded spoon. Nearly all came with a suspensory loop.

[Image courtesy Wartski Ltd, London W1S 4DE, G. Munn Esq.]

Early Spices, Scents, Scent Flacons and Pomanders Scents and aromatic substances have been highly valued in communities for millennia, since Egyptian, Greek and Roman times.

The scents of old, that we still value now, have been supplemented through the last century of modern chemistry, but the majority remain of plant origin. These scents are often complex organic compounds or aromatic oils derived from flowering plants. Added to these are volatile oils from resins obtained from members of the pine family such as juniper and larch.

Aromatic oils may be blended synthetic compounds or natural essential oils that are diluted with a carrier like propylene glycol, vegetable oil, or mineral oil and are used in perfumery, cosmetics, food flavourings and aromatherapy. Of many, typical examples are vanilla, cedar, cinnamon, lemongrass, nutmeg, peppermint, rose and sandalwood.

‘Pomander’ is considered to derive from pomme d’ambre (apple of ambergris).The round pomanders with segments have a stylised apple shape.

Various animal substances have long been used for medicinal purposes. Musk is obtained from glands of the central Asian muskdeer, civet from glands of the African civet cat, while the beaver secretes castoreum.Ambergris is a greyish waxy substance, produced in the digestive system of the sperm whale, which develops a sweet earthy scent with aging. It holds and prolongs other perfumes.

By maceration or distillation, oils were obtained from pine (turpentine), cedar, roses and lilies during Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Indian civilisations. The emperor Charlemagne, in about 800 ad brought plant oils to Europe. Nutmeg, traded by the Arabs from the sixth century well before the Portuguese reached the Moluccas in 1512, was particularly prized. Hildegard of Bingen, the herbalist and saint, steeped aromatic herbs in fat to produce home remedies and is known to have favoured lavender.

The Arab art of distilling the first perfumes from lavender and rosemary was developed in the 14th century. Oriental spices and fragrances became popular after the Crusades, and became associated with prevention of disease. Bubonic plague (the Black Death), had swept across Asia into the Crimea by the mid-14th century. Musk balls, perhaps developed from the Egyptian and Greek compound incense ‘kyphi’, containing mixtures of musk, incense, myrrh, nutmeg and other spices, were carried to offset the pestilence and purify the air. A rare early musk ball is illustrated in this chapter (see page 32, figures 10–13). In later centuries boxes as vinaigrettes served a similar purpose but are not considered in this book.

For aroma, pomanders and musk balls were held to the nose at times of epidemic, but became fashionable in their own right with expensive receptacles (‘pomanders’) made in silver and gold. People of high status increasingly used expensive scents in the Courts of Europe.To survive for use, apothecaries had to keep the aromatic oils sealed in small narrow-necked bottles with ground-glass stoppers.

For an individual’s use, the fragrant balsams were placed and held tightly in place within tiny receptacles often with several chambers.

Over 100 recipes and nearly as many ingredients have been identified, with nutmeg in at least 70 per cent of these (Meininghaus and Habrich 1998).

Balsams were developed to contain and ‘hold’ the very aromatic

scent oils, without which they would have evaporated in hours.

Cold-pressed nutmeg butter in spirits was found to be an effective matrix to sufficiently bind in the volatile oils while allowing a very gradual release. It was kinder to the skin than the 16th-century beef suet or calves’ marrow.

The development of screw threads for silver flasks and ground-glass stoppers for bottles facilitated the retention of the aromatic scents.

Manufacture of perfumes, unguents and balsams from multiple ingredients was a complicated process protected and kept secret by apothecaries. They became rich during times of epidemic in the 16th to 18th centuries as the wealthy sought the ‘most potent’ scents in pomanders to ward off pestilences. Mary Magdalene (Mary of Magdala) who anointed the feet of Jesus Christ (Luke 7:38) became patron saint of apothecaries and parfumers (perfumers).

An alternative, in southern France from 1720, a plague vinegar (‘vinaigre de quatre voleurs’) was highly sought-after. It included calamus, camphor, cinnamon, cloves, garlic, lavender, mugwort, nutmeg and wormwood, in red wine vinegar.

In their splendid (and much recommended) book Aromata, Meininghaus and Habrich (1998) record some of the many recipes for balsams that were identified by Arthur Conrad Ernsting in 1741. Different balsams had a variety of indications for use in pomanders, and many of these included nutmeg butter.

Pomanders in the 17th century came in various, beautifully made, decorated shapes which were often globular (the word pomander indicating the apple shape). Early varieties (continental and some English) often opened in segments, each segment sometimes with labels indicating their contents.

Recipes Clove Balsam (Balsamus Caryophyllorum) Nutmeg butter 7.3g (2 drams*) oil of cloves 2.5g (2 scruples) The mixture is dyed with dark earth (umber) to take on the colour of brown cloves, or The mixture is dyed reddish with copper oxide, like garden gilly flowers or pinks.

Rose Balsam (Balsamus Rosarum) Nutmeg butter 7.3g (2 drams) oil of rosewood 7.3g (2 drams*) Finest powdered red sandalwood, or some carmine pigment is added until the balsam is red.

Nutmeg Balsam Nutmeg butter in its natural state is yellowish in colour (see page 25) and smells of nutmeg oil.

Rosemary Balsam (Balsamus Rorismarini) Nutmeg butter ½oz (approx. 15g) oil of rosemary 4 scruples (~5gm) The mixture is coloured green with copper acetate.

Apoplexy Balsam (Balsamus Apoplecticus) This was one of the most important balsams, and was usually coloured black with burnt ivory. It was used both for therapy and for prevention of giddiness, headache, apoplexy and faintness, being applied and rubbed into the forehead and temples.There are multiple recipes which are all based on nutmeg butter, ambergris, musk, civet, amber oil, rosemary, cinnamon and sometimes camphor, rue and lavender oil. For use by women castoreum (from beavers) was used instead of ambergris, civet or musk to give a lighter fragrance.

*There are various definitions of a dram. The Greek drachm is equivalent to about 4.37 grams, while the Roman drachm is about 3.41 grams. In the weighing system usage by apothecaries until the 20th century it would be equivalent to 3.6–3.9 grams.

Early Spice Boxes, Pouncet Boxes and Pomanders | 29

CHAPTER 5

Late 17th and Early 18th-Century Nutmeg Graters

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t is likely that when nutmeg was available only to the very wealthy before the end of the 17th century it was ground with pestle and mortar, and was mostly supplied by apothecaries. Tin graters and rasps suitable for nutmeg were available in a few households earlier in the century. Such may be associated with the covers and finials of a few wassail bowls (see chapter 4, pp. 34-36) and one can be seen in the lid of a treen posset cup (p. 35, fig. 2).

The production of small nutmeg grater boxes that could be carried by the individual when travelling seems to have happened quite suddenly, and first, in England. The first silver boxes appear in the last two decades of the 17th century. A very small number of fully hallmarked examples from the early 1680s have been recorded. It may have been the fear of plague that encouraged this as nutmeg was considered to be valuable as a protection against the disease. Plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, had been present in Europe at intervals for 300 years yet the last major plague in England, the ‘Great Pestilence’ of 1665, was almost 20 years before the graters appeared.

Grater boxes must have resulted from a fashion change by the very wealthy, and it is most likely that royalty or courtiers in London led the development. Who was it? We do not know. If so, why did not the same fashion spread to continental Europe? A very few Dutch graters date from the early 18th century, becoming more common substantially later in the 18th and into the 19th centuries.

Few seem to have come from other European countries, or much later. This is surprising as prior to marine exploration of the Banda Islands, nutmeg and other spices arrived in Europe from Asia, mainly from Acre and Alexandria via Venice, Genoa and other Italian ports. The belief that nutmeg prevented plague would not have ceased at the English Channel, and plague affected and devastated all of Europe. Nutmeg was important and, in Europe, expensive, and if not grated must have been ground. Early trade was often via apothecaries who extracted ‘nutmeg butter’ used as part of the ingredients to fill pomanders in the 17th century (see pages 25 and 29).

By the 18th century rasps rather than grater boxes were common in much of Europe, classically considered as tobacco rasps. Some indeed may well have been for tobacco, but many would have been used also for nutmeg and/or ginger.The increasing popularity of nutmeg and its slowly increasing availability may have

stimulated the demand for dedicated nutmeg graters to avoid the admixture of flavours and aromas. A few English silver graters, identical to those for nutmeg, can be found inscribed for ginger, as can a very few simple tin kitchen graters.

It is considered that nearly all graters of this design were London-made. Only a tiny number were fully marked. Sometimes a contemporaneous date may be engraved, probably at the owner’s request. Many have a maker’s mark struck at least once.

It may be on the end of the cylinder or on the inside or outside of an end cap. Where an end of a grater is closed the mark may be on this end. In a few two-compartment models it can occur internally in the nutmeg-storage end on the division between the compartments. An owner’s initials may be scratch engraved, usually on the ends.

When now offered for sale these graters tend to be labelled as 1690s or late 17th century. However, while they were made from the mid-1680s, with some variation in form their production continued into the first two decades of the 18th century.

Substantial numbers of makers’ marks are known for these late 17th and early 18th-century graters but it is unfortunate that details of most 17th-century makers’ names and addresses were lost for various reasons. Plague and the Great Fire of London after the Commonwealth period were followed by a major fire in the London Assay Office in 1681. Hardened lead plates of marks and associated parchment records were lost. A copper plate table was used from 1681 but a book of names and addresses has not survived. Only after a Britannia silver standard, new recording of makers, and a new cycle of date marks were instituted in 1697 did good records exist. Recent research published by David Mitchell (2017) has provided much needed information.

The bodies of these graters were made from a sheet of silver rolled and then soldered into a cylinder. Some were left as a straight cylinder, others were decoratively pierced, and some have ribs at each end, the cap fitting to the rib. Ribs may help strengthen and limit damage from knocks. The ribbed examples were not pierced.

Enclosed within was a grater also made from a silver sheet, the quite crude pierced holes being placed before the formation into a cylinder, perhaps with one closed end.

The solder line can be more obvious in the graters than in the outer cylinders. Most graters are a close fit in the cylinder, both in Late 17th and Early 18th-Century Nutmeg Graters | 37

diameter and length but a few are rather smaller. When they are significantly shorter than the cylinder length this would allow more room for the nutmeg. However, some of these graters can be found with very ill-fitting graters, sometimes with a different maker’s mark, indicating that over years they have been misplaced or replaced.

There have been suggestions of cylindrical graters being for tobacco, as they are too narrow to contain a nutmeg, and silver graters being too soft to grate nutmeg. Nutmegs in the 17th century were of smaller size, increasing since with cultivation. Also, a few rather less-common graters are two-ended with two caps, the smaller end occupying about a quarter of the length and being of a size to take a nutmeg. Furthermore, a few of these cylindrical graters, in addition to scratch-engraved decoration, had cut-out hearts and other piercings through which tobacco could be lost but not a nutmeg. With labour far cheaper than silver such cutouts would also save money in manufacture.

Nutmeg will grate well on a silver grater, although the grater will blunt with much use. Holes in silver graters tend to be coarser than in base-metal ones. Some, perhaps more towards the end of the period, may have a mild steel grater, but it is also possible that at least some of these could have been a more durable replacement of a silver original. Hand-punched steel graters will have somewhat irregularly placed jagged ‘teeth’ made by a punch. When later in the decades a fly-press was used to raise multiple aligned small 1

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Figs 1–3 Nutmeg grater ‘GS’ crowned, possibly of Gosnong Seagroet London, c.1687 Weight: 60.9g Size: 93×24mm V&A 811-1864 This is a two-compartment tube with caps, the small end being for nutmeg storage. One cap is engraved with the owner’s initials and the other cap with a splendid armorial (unidentified). One grater end is open and the other closed.

hemispheres in the flat sheet, a tool was then used to pierce these domes. It was not until the end of the 18th century that blued steel was used (see page 70, captions to figures 1–4).

The bodies of most cylinders were scratch engraved with lines and geometric shapes. Ends were often decorated with stylised stars, or flowers such as a rose or tulip. The frequency of stylised tulips being scratch engraved on graters at this time is likely to reflect the popularity of, and fashion for, tulips in 17th-century high-class society. The spread from the powerful Ottoman Empire to the Netherlands in the 1630s, and the proliferation of varieties through Europe led to the well recorded ‘tulip mania’.

Thomas Kedden was quite a prolific maker of nutmeg graters of quality. He was apprenticed to a bookbinder of the Merchant Taylors’ Company in October 1682, and was free in February 1692.The mark ‘TK’ is associated with him and would be for items produced before 1700. Changing to new punches by makers was required by the 1697 hallmarking legislation, but registration by makers of their new punches occurred only gradually. Kedden’s mark as a smallworker, ‘KE’, was not entered until 20 November 1700, this being the form required by the 1697 Act of Parliament until 1720.

Therefore, the examples on page 40 (figs 10-15) were manufactured in the 1690s. The grater on page 40 (figs 16-17) dates from around 1700–1710 and is of Britannia standard as legislation required (Forbes 1999).

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The mark appears in Jackson’s (Pickford 1989, p. 143). Mitchell (2017) recognises it struck on the 1682 London Mark Plate.

He considered it might possibly be the mark of Gosnong Seagroet on whom Mitchell found limited information between 1682 and 1694.

Fig. 4 Nutmeg grater Unmarked Probably London, c.1690s Weight: 14.4g Size: 59×20mm R&MGC 181

38 | Late 17th and Early 18th-Century Nutmeg Graters

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As can be seen, the enclosed grater is significantly smaller than the outer pierced cylinder at about 85% length and 75% width. It may be original, or it could have been misplaced from another grater.

It raises the possibility that it may be a replacement as silver graters would have worn quite quickly with repeated use as can be seen with some of those illustrated such as in page 39 figures 5-7, 11-12, 16-17 or page 40 figures 7-9.

Figs 5–6 Ribbed, scratch-engraved grater

‘WH’ below heart (unidentified) Probably London, c.1690–1700 Weight: 35g Size: 63×20mm (grater 62×19mm) The mark is rather like number 3885 in Grimwade but (by the nature of the grater) is of an earlier date than the 1743 of that Grimwade image. This illustrates the difficulties of attribution in the absence of good records. This mark does not appear in Mitchell (2017).

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18 Figs 1–4 Nutmeg grater Maker ‘W’ in heart shape, to cylinder end, inside cap and unusually to the grater collar; unidentified Probably London, 1683 Weight: 25.1g Size: 68×22mm Owner ‘MB’. Scratch-engraved contem­ porary date. The riveting and the soldering of the grater tube are unusual.

Figs 5–7 Nutmeg grater Probably London, c.1700–1720 Weight: 25.2g Size: 66×20mm (grater 55×17mm) Different (rubbed and unidentified) maker’s

marks on the cylinder and the grater together with the smaller grater suggest a mismatch. Owner’s mark ‘MW’. The date of 1720 may reflect year of manufacture or have been placed shortly after.

Figs 8–10 Nutmeg grater, silver and tin Possibly Thomas Harris Junior London, probably early 1680s–1687 Weight: 48.7g Size: 71×28mm (tin grater 64×25mm) The maker’s monogram mark ‘TH’ (Pickford 1989, p. 136), inside the cylinder base, is discussed in Mitchell (2017, p. 533). Harris became free in 1670. In 1687 he and others were dismissed from

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19 livery by King James II. By 1689 he was receiving regular Goldsmiths’ Company charitable gifts. A tin grater may indicate later than 1690s, or be a replacement.

This maker also made a ‘teardrop’ grater (see page 44, figures 9-12).

Figs 11–15 Nutmeg grater ‘EB’ (unidentified) Probably London, c.1690s Weight: 20.2g Size: 62×19mm (grater 58×17mm) Individual scratch-engraved ‘flowers’.

Attractive piercings in outer case.

Figs 16–17 Double-ended grater

‘S’ in shield and trefoil (unidentified) Probably London, c.1690–1700 Weight: 29.7g Size: 70×22mm (grater 43×20mm) Double-ended, slightly domed caps with 6-pointed stylised flowers, scratch engraving, short silver grater.

Figs 18–19 Nutmeg grater ‘WB’ 3 pellets (unidentified) on the grater and on the plain cylinder Probably London, 1684 Weight: 44.1g Size: 76×19mm (grater 74×17mm) Owner ‘DK’ on end cap.

Late 17th and Early 18th-Century Nutmeg Graters | 39

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16 Figs 1–4 Nutmeg grater John Ruslen London, 1680s Weight: 15.1g Size: 54×18mm (grater 42×15mm) Ruslen was free 1664, livery 1682, Warden 1702, Prime Warden 1712, and died 1717. While he was registered as a largeworker this is one of the smallest of this type of grater.

It has a 20th-century ‘How of Edinburgh Ltd.’ London sales ticket which attributes Ruslen. Jackson (1921, p. 132) and Pickford (1989, p.138) suggest Ruslen; David Mitchell (2017, pp. 390–92) agrees this as probable.

Figs 5–6 Double-ended grater Unmarked

Probably London, c.1680s–1700 Weight: 24.6g Size: 72×20mm (grater 53×14mm) Double-ended perforated tube. Pierced geometric motifs but different (circular) holes at the grater end. Though narrow the grater of correct length is likely to be original; its narrowness would reduce silver cost. The filigree end caps are a previously unrecorded variation.

Figs 7–9 Nutmeg grater Edward Hunsdon London, 1698 Weight: 31.5g Size: 69×21mm V&A 895-1927 The grater (uncommon at this date) is fully hallmarked, with the maker’s mark on all three parts. It has the owner’s ‘MP’ initials. It is of Britannia standard

40 | Late 17th and Early 18th-Century Nutmeg Graters

958.3/1000 as used from 1697 until 1720 when the 925/1000 standard was again allowed. The cylinder and grater have seen some wear. Punched quite large, the grater holes show blunting perhaps as this higher silver grade would be softer.

Edward Hunsdon had been apprenticed to Thomas Tebb of the Joiners’ Company, and was free on 6 February 1683. His mark was entered as a smallworker, undated, probably in April 1697 when the register was commenced, or shortly afterwards.

Hunsdon’s mark appears in Grimwade (1990, mark 1081) but does not appear in Mitchell (2017).

Figs 10–11 Double-ended grater Thomas Kedden

London, 1692–1700 Weight: 36.1g Size: 75×22mm (grater 49×20mm) Double-ended, slightly domed caps.

Body with three cartouches, one with ‘IH’ owner’s mark. Detailed scratch engraving.

Figs 12–15 Thomas Kedden London, 1692–1700 Weight: 44.7g Size: 79×26mm V&A 893-1927 Figs 16–17 Double-ended grater Thomas Kedden London, c.1700–1710 Weight: 31.8g Size: 72×23mm (grater 46mm length) R&MGC 204 Two compartments. Britannia standard marks on cylinder and inside caps.

CHAPTER 23

The ‘Toymakers’ of Birmingham and Silver Nutmeg Graters T

he Midlands Enlightenment in the later 18th century was a widespread cultural movement of architecture, painting and authorship, and of manufacturing.

Rather than with its current meaning, the term ‘toy’ is used to describe a wide range of pretty and useful small artefacts. They were manufactured by many craftsmen in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. Materials were mostly in silver and gold, but brass, copper, steel and iron were often used, and in conjunction with enamels.

Ann Colmore obtained a Private Act of Parliament in 1746 to develop the New Hall Estate in Birmingham with a mix of vernacular buildings – gabled fronts, some dormer windows, workshops, large and small housing as living accommodation.

Twenty years later in Sketchley’s Directory are listed over 100 families or individuals making small filigree or solid silver trinkets of novelty and fashion. Made in substantial numbers and becoming somewhat more affordable some items might be called shoddy or cheap by the snobbish as ‘Brummagem’, particularly where they might be counterfeit or plated. However, many very beautiful intricate silver and gold objects survive to show the creative manufacturing ability of these artisans. The objects include seals, toothpick cases, vinaigrettes, snuff boxes, nutmeg graters, caddy spoons and innumerable other items. Other smallworkers or toymakers working in base metals, ivory or tortoiseshell, would make some items in combination, or make components for other artisans.

For example, we see different makers of small cylindrical nutmeg graters that have a very similar structure but have added brightcut decoration. They are quite simple and light with relatively little silver weight and may have been made almost as a production line as substantial numbers survive. Did workers copy each other, or did they buy part-finished ‘blanks’ from other smallworkers? It is likely that some of the bigger manufacturers would bring in part-finished items from other makers, work further upon them, and place their own mark upon the enhanced item. Quality and workmanship were high while development of some mechanisation facilitated production at a lower cost.

By the last decade of the 18th century and into the early 19th century the aspiration of many merchants and individuals of moderate wealth was extending to purchasing a silver pocket nutmeg grater as they became more affordable from semi-mechanised production, and as nutmeg itself became less of a luxury.

There were many Birmingham silversmiths in the later part of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, and several of the silver toymakers made intricate boxes of the highest workmanship and in many forms, such as for use as snuff boxes, patchboxes,

Fig. 1 Matthew Boulton’s Soho works from 1762

vinaigrettes, vesta cases, card cases and nutmeg graters. Among those making nutmeg graters were Samuel Pemberton, Joseph Taylor, Matthew Linwood, Nathaniel Mills, Joseph Willmore, John Shaw, Thomas Shaw, John Hilliard and John Thomason, and even Matthew Boulton. Manufacturing dynasties developed with children having the same name following their fathers into the business, which can cause confusion when identifying the marks of makers.

Techniques of decoration by the Birmingham toymakers included gilding, engine turning, brightcutting, repoussé work, embossing and chasing, use of die stamps, and piqué work. Apart from the silversmiths, other artisans would be working with tortoiseshell, ivory, bone, agates, and motherof-pearl. Some of these materials were also made into boxes as nutmeg graters, occasionally in Fig. 2 Portrait of Matthew Boulton combination with silver, and some (1772–1792) by Carl Frederik von Breda [Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, such as in bone or ivory might be licensed under CC0] stained in green or red.

Manufacture of nutmeg graters in Birmingham continued in significant numbers until the end of the 19th century with firms such as Hilliard & Thomason and with George Unite, but very few graters were made in this city after this date.

The ‘Toymakers’ of Birmingham and Silver Nutmeg Graters | 153

As silverwork had developed in Birmingham there were increasing difficulties to arrange assaying and hallmarking, for these involved taking items by horse and cart 70 miles to Chester or 120 miles to London while avoiding both damage and highwaymen. Matthew Boulton successfully petitioned Parliament in London for a Birmingham assay office to be established. It opened on 31 August 1773.

Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (1728–1809) was a leading figure in the Birmingham Enlightenment and had national and international influence. He joined his father’s button and toy-making business and substantially managed production before his father died in 1759. With this commercial base and monies from two marriages he leased 13 acres in the Soho area of Birmingham. He had wide-ranging interests. He partnered with the Scottish engineer James Watt to develop and make ‘Boulton & Watt’ steam engines. In 1797 his mint which had been producing medals for 20 years was contracted to make British copper coins. Matthew Boulton worked in many media – silver, silver plate, ormolu and other materials. He developed high-quality plating and made some monumental objects in silver and plate.

Samuel Pemberton and the Firm The Pemberton family was a major player in the Birmingham and West Midlands Enlightenment in the last quarter of the 18th century and first quarter of the 19th. They were based in the Snow Hill area of Birmingham and from there they are now best known as silversmiths. They had, however, many other industrial interests.

There is often confusion over the family members for there was a Samuel in each of four generations. The Samuel Pemberton of

1704–1784 is often considered the first (which number ignores his father and grandfather both also called Samuel).This nomenclature of four not six is used here. Samuel I was a toymaker and jeweller.

Samuel Pemberton II (1738–1803) developed the very extensive silver business. In 1773 he was appointed as a Guardian of the Birmingham Assay Office. In 1778 he went into partnership with iron and coal masters to run forges in Staffordshire and Shropshire as well as Birmingham.

Little is known of his eldest son, Samuel Pemberton III (1771– 1836). It was his second son Thomas (1775–1830) who ran the silver business in the 19th century with some involvement of the third son, Edwin (1783–1851) who was also an iron master.

Thomas also was a Guardian of the Birmingham Assay Office.

Thomas had two sons from his second marriage, the older, Samuel working in coal and iron.

Marks of ‘SP’ in oval punches were used well after the death of Samuel II until 1812. Thomas registered his own mark of ‘TP’ in 1803 and from 1812 he was in partnership with Robert Mitchell.

After 1821 the partnerships with Mitchell ceased and the firm was registered as S. Pemberton & Son with four marks of ‘SP’ and one of ‘TP’ registered.

Largely in the 1790s, Samuel Pemberton II made very substantial numbers of graters most of which are small, quite light in weight, and would have been relatively less costly. Where graters are marked for him, almost all carry a full set of hallmarks.

Varying designs were made, many with decorative cutting. Small cylinders with domed tops are quite commonly found. Graters shaped as eggs, oval forms and occasionally rectangular boxes were made. Many forms had push-fitting covers, while for most ‘eggs’ the two halves were screw threaded. Hinged boxes were generally of higher quality and likely to be aimed at the more affluent market.

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Figs 1–3 Cylinder nutmeg grater Matthew Boulton Birmingham, 1795 Weight: 70.4g Size: 71×44mm Substantial, quite heavy cylinder grater, the blued-steel grater slides firmly into its outer case.

An identical 1795 grater in the Birmingham Assay Office is illustrated in

Delieb (2002, plate 15). A similar example was in Lacy Scott & Knight’s March 2018 auction, marked for Matthew Boulton Plate Co. (dated 1827, 68g, 65mm).

A Chorley’s Auctions example in January 2019 was stated to be dated 1832, indicating a long production of the design by the M. Boulton & Plate Co. An old Sheffield plate version (figs 12–13, p.

201) is likely by Boulton.

154 | The ‘Toymakers’ of Birmingham and Silver Nutmeg Graters

Figs 4–5 Old Sheffield plate nutmeg grater Unmarked Probably Birmingham and possibly Soho works, c.1810 Weight: 53g Size: 77×33mm A similar grater was lot 629 at Woolley & Wallis’s July 2019 auction.

Figs 6–7 Cylinder nutmeg grater England Probably Birmingham or Sheffield, c.1790s Weight: 84.1g Size: 75×35mm Unidentified worn mark ‘KM’, twice on the base and twice on the collar which holds the grater by four steel rivets.

Samuel Pemberton II – Small Domed Cylinders 2

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Fig. 1 Small cylinder nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1790 Weight: 11g Size: 32×22mm Fig. 2 Small cylinder nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1802

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Weight: 10.6g Size: 32×22mm Hallmarks in the base are typical of those of Samuel Pemberton II. Fig. 3 Small cylinder nutmeg grater with two domed caps Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1801 Weight: 11.4g Size: 38×22mm

As only one of the two domed caps has marks it may be that the two caps are original rather than one being misplaced from a second grater.

Figs 4–7 Three bright-cut decorated small cylinder nutmeg graters Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham

Fig 4 above: 1795 Weight: 11g Size: 31×23mm Fig 5 above: 1794 Weight: 12.5g Size: 31×23mm Figs 6-7 above: 1792 Weight: 10.3g Size: 32×21mm (marks shown)

Samuel Pemberton II – Egg Shape The four, fully marked, ‘eggs’ by Pemberton illustrated in figures 8-18 below were made over a decade. All have a push-fit grater in a silver collar.Three screw together, one plain and two with brightcut decoration. These ‘eggs’ are commonly found, many plain without decoration, and there was clearly a substantial production.

The 1793 and 1796 examples have standard pre-perforated graters cut from a steel sheet. The perforation pattern in the grill of the plain ‘egg’ of 1801 (figs 8-9 below) is unusual but appears

original. More skill was used to make the unusual ribbed, hinged example with careful circular grater perforation, while there are three small crescent-shaped cuts in the body rim for a fingernail to aid grater removal. Two other such ribbed, hinged examples have been seen within a couple of years of the 1800 date, while a third in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A102–1927; 19.8g, 48x34mm) may be from the earlier 1790s as it has a maker’s mark only.

8

12 9

11

10

13

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Figs 8–9 ‘Egg’ nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1801 Weight: 19.3g Size: 48×30mm A near-identical plain Pemberton ‘egg’ grater was dated 1798.

15

Figs 10–12 ‘Egg’ nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1793 Weight: 11.6g Size: 41×25mm The hallmarks and maker’s mark are inside the cap. There is attractive bright cutting, and a cut-out in the base thread to facil-

16

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itate grater removal by a fingernail. While this screw thread is good, cross-threading or thread damage over the years is common due to the cut-out and the thin silver.

Figs 13–14 ‘Egg’ nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1796

18

Weight: 11g Size: 40×25mm Figs 15–18 Hinged ‘egg’ nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1800 Weight: 17.8g Size: 48×30mm Hinged ‘egg’ graters are very uncommon, while the ribbed body decoration is rarely seen.

The ‘Toymakers’ of Birmingham and Silver Nutmeg Graters | 155

Samuel Pemberton II – Acorn Shapes Like the small cylindrical graters there is also a push-fit top while the grater of blued mild steel is held in a separate silver collar which itself push-fits into the top of the lower component. The body usually has a small cut-out in the rim of about 1mm by 5mm to allow a fingernail to lift out the grater to access the nutmeg stored underneath. These acorn-shaped graters, which may be 1

2

plain or bright cut, are less common and would be a ‘grade above’ the small cylinders.

As with most Pemberton graters these are usually fully hallmarked inside the cap with ‘SP’ centrally with the town, duty, standard (fineness) and date marks at 90 degrees to each other.

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5 4

6

7

8

Figs 1–4 Stylised ‘acorn’ nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II London, 1799 Weight: 12.4g Size: 37×26mm Hallmarks are placed characteristically for small, light Pemberton graters with ‘SP’ centrally and the others around. These are quite well struck but the shape of some components in other graters can make distortion quite likely.

Figs 5–7 Stylised ‘acorn’ nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II London, 1799 Weight: 10.5g Size: 38×26mm The base component has a 1×5mm edge cut-out and the top has a small curved arc cut-out to aid opening.

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Fig. 8 Stylised ‘acorn’ nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1798(?) (date letter partly obliterated) Weight: 11.1g Size: 30×25mm V&A 1030-1927 Attractive bright-cut decoration.

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Figs 9–10 Stylised ‘acorn’ nutmeg grater V&A 1029-1927 Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1794 Weight: 10g Size: 34×25mm Hallmarks and maker’s mark on the cap are unusually in an arc at the outside edge. In most domed graters by Pemberton the marks are placed inside the dome.

Samuel Pemberton II – ‘Double-Cone’ or Tapered Barrel Shape A silver sheet will have been spun to obtain these shapes. The structure remains simple with the two components being a push-fit together. The base metal grater will have been cut from a pre-perforated sheet with equal spacing of the holes. A silver collar holds the grater which is a push-fit into the base. Bases will

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normally have a small fingernail cut-out to facilitate access to a stored nutmeg.

The shape may be one of the less common forms but it is light in weight and would still have been one of the more affordable ranges.

13 15

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Figs 11–13 Cone-shaped or barrel nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1798 Weight: 14g Size: 44×25mm This grater is made as two straight-sided

cones that push together as does the silver-mounted grater.

Hallmarks are inside one component but unusually for Pemberton the maker’s mark is on its own inside the other end.

156 | The ‘Toymakers’ of Birmingham and Silver Nutmeg Graters

Figs 14–15 Cone-shaped or barrel nutmeg grater Samuel Pemberton II Birmingham, 1798 Weight: 13.2g Size: 44×25mm This ‘double-cone’ or tapered barrel form

was made in the same year as the one in figures 11-13 above. It has limited decoration with a suspensory loop. The components are a push-fit as is the silver-mounted grater.

Graters, Pomanders Spice Boxes NUTMEG and

John Reckless is a retired consultant physician and endocrinologist who started to collect antique kitchenalia (much being mechanical) in the 1980s.

His fascination with nutmeg paraphernalia was spurred by the discovery of a cast iron mechanical grater in 1990. Collecting and researching graters and pomanders has led him to visit the Banda Islands and Grenada, as well as giving him the opportunity to delve deeper into areas of social and historical interest.

Front cover Top left: ‘Pumpkin’ grater, Edward, Edward Jr, John & William Barnard, London, 1846

NUTMEG

Graters, Pomanders and Spice Boxes Luxury and utility from the 16th century to the present day

For centuries, in caravans across Asia and then in small ships, men brought to Europe the fabled spices of the East. One such spice, growing only on a few small tropical islands, was a small perfumed nut.

Nutmeg: Graters, Pomanders and Spice Boxes explores the story of nutmeg, revealing its extensive and often surprising influence over conflict, politics, social mores, and Western society. Beautiful antique silver, gold, enamel, bone, ivory, treen and Tunbridge ware graters and rasps demonstrate how much nutmeg was valued throughout history.

Combining the social history of nutmeg with explanations of the spice production and transportation process, and generously illustrated throughout, this book is the essential reference work for collectors, antique dealers and auctioneers.

Middle left: Pomander, silver and part gilt, unmarked, Europe – probably England, c.1660–1680 Middle right: Gold filigree cylindrical nutmeg grater, unmarked, London or Birmingham, c.1780s Bottom left: Silver-mounted cowrie shell nutmeg grater, unmarked, almost certainly London, c.1690s Bottom right: Whitewood Tunbridge ware nutmeg grater modelled as a cottage, unmarked, South-east England, c.1790s–1830s

To see the full catalogue of books published by ACC Art Books, please go to our website:

Back cover Top left: Multi-compartment spice box and nutmeg grater, unmarked, c.1800s

JOHN RECKLESS

Top right: Cast iron nutmeg grater, J.M. Smith, Seymour Connecticut USA, 1870

www.accartbooks.com ACC ART BOOKS Sandy Lane, Old Martlesham Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 4SD, UK Tel 01394 389950 Email: uksales@accartbooks.com

Middle: Unfolding ‘vase’ grater, Thomas Phipps and Edward Robinson II, London, 1809 Bottom left: Unfolding cylinder nutmeg grater, unmarked, India – Trichinopoly (now Tiruchirappalli), Tamil Nadu, mid-19th century Bottom centre: Enamel ‘egg’ nutmeg grater, unmarked, probably Birmingham, early 1760s Bottom right: Gold nutmeg grater, Maker ‘GL’, probably Giles Loyer, London, 1814

ISBN: 978-1-78884-145-0

9 781788 841450

56500 £50.00/$65.00

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JOHN RECKLESS

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