Small Ornate Sheet-Metal Tongs; What Purpose?

These are unmarked, an' appear to have been cheaply mass-produced, perhaps to be included within a candy or other confection package. Their pattern seems 19th C to me. ~3" long, ~9/16" wide. They may have been silver-washed, but no evidence remains of that. They weigh 5.5 grams. Thanks for lookin'!

 

sugar tongs.... imo

 

Ditto

 

Yeah,I thought of that...but don't know when cubed sugar became available. Seems to me these pre-date that, bwdik?

 

@wlwhittier, they don't polish up......do they!!! They just might be what my M-i-Law gave me DECADES ago!!! "Strawberry huller" is what she always called it....to pull the 'stem' out of strawberries!! Mine is just 2 1/2 inches long.....it doesn't have the weight of Sterling AND it WON'T polish up!!!! So, I'm not sure of the metal, but here's mine: And it says S.S. Pierce Company, Boston... on the curved end.
And yours just might be sugar tongs!

I love the design on it!!!

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those are sugar tongs.........

but.........

some say candy tongs....!!

I don'y know enuf to tell one from the other.........

 

They're candy tongs, usually 2" to 3" in length, and typically included with boxes of chocolates or other candies.





Just as a note, factory sugar cubes date back as early as the mid-19th century, but sugar tongs date back to the early 18th century, used for lumps of sugar cut or broken off large sugar loaves with sugar nippers.


~Cheryl

 

Well...then I'll go for candy tongs.........and once the candy is all ate up ......you could use them for sugar !!!