Bonhams 1793 : A near pair of early 18th Century toddy ladles

Each having a burr maple bowl with scalloped white metal mounts to the rim, the spiral-twist whalebone handle with heart-shaped white metal escutcheon attachment, one 16cm long; the other 17cm long, together with a treen sailmaker's liner or press, probably 17th Century, having a wedge-shaped end and spiral-twisted short handle with facetted geometric terminal, 10.5cm long, two boxwood netting tools, both flat and with pierced and pointed ends, one 23cm long; the other 20cm long, and two treen tools, probably netting tools, both with rounded ends and tapering pointed shafts, one with single ring-turning, the other with multiple rings, the first 11cm long; the second 9cm long, (7)

Sold for £275 inc. premium

Footnotes

Provenance: Both toddy ladles bearing paper label reading 'A. T. Collection 118'. Boxwood tools bearing the same labels and the numbers '84' and '85'. One treen tool bearing same label with indistinct number. The second with traces of now missing label.

For a similar toddy ladle see Christie's, 13th July 2006, Lot 297.

Literature: Pinto illustrates a comparable liner in Fig. 288 of Treen, where he also notes, on p. 269, that these implements, variously known as 'liners, markers, presses, rubbers and smoothers...were used for smoothing seams in canvas'.

See ibid., Fig. 287 for two comparable boxwood netting tools.