Tongs, Sugar
- Object Name:
- Tongs, Sugar
- Object ID:
- 1955.173
- Creator:
- Wilson, Robert & William
Silversmith - Place of Origin:
- Philadelphia, PA
- Date:
- 1828-1846
- Description:
- Sugar Tongs. Made by Robert and William Wilson, Philadelphia, PA; 1828-1846; Silver. "French Thread" pattern. Claw-shaped bowls are cast, and soldered onto handle. Each claw has three talons. Squared top of tongs is engraved in feathered script, "AWC". Maker's mark stamped on reverse of top of tongs: "R&W.WILSON", in upper-case roman letters, within a plain rectangle.
- Material:
- Metal
Silver - Dimensions:
- W-0.875 L-6.375 inches
- Provenance:
- Given in memory of the donor's aunt, Ellen Cuthbert Roberts (1857-) of Philadelphia, PA, who, according to typed statement from donor, "cared for them during her long life and then left them to me." AWC is engraved on these tongs, which was probably the initials of Ellen Cuthbert Robert's grandmother, Ann Williams (1806-1889, of England), who married Benjamin Wiggin Chase (1796-1878) of Hopkinton, NH, in 1828. The couple resided primarily in Philadelphia, but also in Hopkinton, NH, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and England. Perhaps this was a wedding gift. The tongs have the maker's mark of R. & W. Wilson, silversmiths of Philadelphia, who had directory entries from 1825 to 1846.
- Credit Line:
- Bequest of Alice Roberts Turner, in memory of Ellen Cuthbert Roberts
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