18th Century Late. Inkstand, Sheffield, England. Square, resting on four ball feet, the top pierced with four circular holes into which fit two inkwells, a pounce box and a box for wafers. Silver inkstands appeared in Britain in 17th century and included pot, or well, for ink, plus another pot with pierced cover held ‘pounce’ or sand, which writers scattered over paper to fix ink. Wafers to seal finished letter and tray to hold pens or quills. collections.vam.ac.uk
Craftsmen created containers of precious metals, leather, and silks and decorated them with jewels and engraving. Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have used writing boxes, linen boxes when travelling, boxes to hold their food and drink supplies while traveling by carriage, and decorative boxes to keep letters, ribbons, gloves, hairpins etc. Boxes, Cases, and Necessaires By Suzi Love, History Notes Book 11. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases.
1806 Silver and silver-gilt vinaigrette, Birmingham, England. Commemorating the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Rectangular with a hinged lid and a suspension loop. Gilded, pierced inner cover depicts HMS ‘Victory’ in relief inscribed ‘VICTORY’, ‘TRAFALGAR OCT 21 1805’. Via National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, U.K.
Vinaigrettes were used from the late 18th century through the 19th Century to revive a person who had fainted, having the vapors, or to mask unsanitary odors. Small containers, often a silver hinged box, held a tiny sponge dipped in an aromatic substance which had been dissolved in vinegar. The sponge was held beneath a grill or perforated cover so, by a flick of the fingers, the container was opened and the restorative substance held directly beneath a person’s nose. Jane Austen and her family and friends would have been very familiar with the use of vinaigrettes because Regency Era ladies were noted for having the vapors or fainting in hot ballrooms or dramatic situations. Ladies in the Romantic and Victorian Eras would have used them when tightly laced corsets became popular and ladies fainted because they were unable to draw in enough oxygen.
Both men and women used vinaigrettes in the late 1700s when people encountered foul aromas on a daily basis, but by the 1820s vinaigrettes were mainly used by women.These tiny containers were carried in a pocket, a reticule or bag, or suspended from the waist by chains as part of a chatelaine. Their sterling silver interiors were gilded to prevent discoloration from the acetic acid. Birmingham produced 90% of England’s silver vinaigrettes. As gold wasn’t affected by vinegar, craftsmen created some elaborate and decorative boxes on the container’s exteriors.
How did people travel in past centuries? What did they take with them to make their long journeys easier? Travel by road, ship, canal, or railway all took a long time and had dangers so people learned to prepare. And then, in the nineteenth century, road improvements, inventions, and scientific developments made travel more pleasurable. Travel and Luggage By Suzi Love History Notes Book 10 books2read.com/SuziLoveTravel
Horse Power To Steam. Various alternatives to horse power were tested in London’s streets during the 19th century. Steam powered road engines and trams proved too heavy and damaged the roads. Stationary steam engines were used to haul trams attached to a cable but these were only really effective on hills that we too steep for horses. There were also experiments with trams driven gas engines and battery electric power. but was successfully developed. Petrol engines were still primitive and unreliable in the 1890s. In 1900 the reliable horse still dominated the streets of London but new technology was to revolutionize road transport.
19th Century Set of Damascened Calligrapher’s Tools, Turkey. via Sotheby’s Auctions. sothebys.com
books2read.com/SuziLoveWritingTools
What did the lady of the house use to pen notes In Jane Austen’s lifetime? What sat on the desk of Jane Austen’s male contemporaries when they managed household and estate accounts? books2read.com/SuziLoveWritingTools. Writing Tools, History Notes Book 13.
19th Century Late Mechanical Tantalus, French. Ormolu, Bronze, Crystal, and Gilt with a lock and key to open. Earlier versions of this type of small drinks cabinet would have been used in most households during Jane Austen’s times, unless the householders were teetotalers. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
Tantalus: A small wooden cabinet containing drink decanters. The box has a lock and key to keep unauthorised people from drinking the contents e.g. servants and younger sons, yet still allowing the decanters of drinks to be on show. The word, Tantalus, is a reference to the unsatisfied temptations of the Greek mythological character Tantalus. Patented in the UK in 1881 by George Betjemann, a cabinet maker from the Netherlands, whose workshop was on Pentonville Road, London from the 1830s.
1863 Traveler’s Chest, French. Sewing Tools, Ruby Perfume, Aide de Memoire or Notebook, etc. Inside lid with theatre curtains. via Ruby Lane Antiques. rubylane.com
19th Century Snuff Boxes. Not only were boxes made to serve a purpose, but decorative boxes of all types were prized, especially in the 18th-19th Centuries when everything decorative and extravagant was in vogue and taking a pinch of snuff was fashionable. Snuff is made from ground or pulverized tobacco leaves and is sniffed from a pinch of snuff placed on the back of the hand.Flavorings were added to the tobacco to give a fast hit of nicotine and a lasting scent. Snuff began in the Americas and was used in Europe by the 17th Century.
Snuff became popular from the mid 1600s to the mid 1800s and was more popular than smoking. Inhaling snuff, or snuffing, was first seen by a European missionary in 1493 in Christopher Columbus’s new world within Haiti’s indigenous Taino. Until then, tobacco had been unknown to Europeans, but its use spread quickly throughout Europe during the 1500s. By the second half of the 17th century, ornate boxes started being produced to keep the precious powder dry and an entire industry making accessories blossomed around the fashion of taking snuff. Noblemen, and some women, carried extravagantly decorated snuff boxes with them at all times and would offer a pinch of their own particular blend to friends and family. Therefore, these boxes were always on display and so it became a competition to see who could have the most bejeweled or expensive box possible. By the mid 1800s, snuff taking was no longer popular so these exquisite and expensive snuff boxes became decorative, rather than functional.
18th Century Snuff Boxes. Not only were boxes made to serve a purpose, but decorative boxes of all types were prized, especially in the 18th Century when everything decorative and extravagant was in vogue and taking a pinch of snuff was fashionable. Snuff is made from ground or pulverized tobacco leaves and is sniffed from a pinch of snuff placed on the back of the hand. Flavorings were added to the tobacco to give a fast hit of nicotine and a lasting scent. Snuff began in the Americas and was used in Europe by the 17th Century.
Snuff became popular from the mid 1600s to the mid 1800s and was more popular than smoking. Inhaling snuff, or snuffing, was first seen by a European missionary in 1493 in Christopher Columbus’s new world within Haiti’s indigenous Taino. Until then, tobacco had been unknown to Europeans, but its use spread quickly throughout Europe during the 1500s. By the second half of the 17th century, ornate boxes started being produced to keep the precious powder dry and an entire industry making accessories blossomed around the fashion of taking snuff. Noblemen, and some women, carried extravagantly decorated snuff boxes with them at all times and would offer a pinch of their own particular blend to friends and family. Therefore, these boxes were always on display and so it became a competition to see who could have the most bejeweled or expensive box possible. books2read.com/suziloveFashMen1700
