Featured Sterling Silver Vinaigrette. Birmingham, 1823.

Regency vinaigrette. Very cute






What looks like the original, 200-year-old sponge!



Full set of hallmarks.

Monarch's Head (Duty Mark = Pre-1890).
[T.S] (Maker's Mark. Thomas Spicer).
Lion Passant (Sterling Silver).
Anchor (Birmingham Assay Office).
[Z] (Date Letter. Birmingham 1823).

For those who don't know what this is, it's a vinaigrette. A small, pierced silver case which would hold a sponge soaked in scent/perfume, loaded with smelling-salts, or with vinegar (hence the name). Used to revive you if you passed out

 

You're very lucky to have all the interior pieces! I have my 2X great grandfather's, made in London about the same time, but some time between then and when I got in 2011 the screen and sponge were lost.

 

Not *cute*, rather *splendid*!

 

At least I know what it is! The guy who sold it to me said it was a matchbox. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was nothing of the kind.

 

& that's as it should be.......it's very sweet !!!

 

Absolutely.

I'm just reading up on how these things were used. I'm sorely tempted to take that sponge out and soak it in some sort of scented oil and stick it back in.

 

Please resist that temptation.

IMHO, most "scented oils" these days are soooooo very heavily scented with from slight to heavy overtones of just plain old "chemicals" (at least to my sense of smell) that it would be a shame to mess around with putting any scent (which will linger no doubt) into that lovely case (much less use that old, somewhat deteriorated(?), sponge to "hold the scent").

Bless Patty, I'm almost gagging at the thought.

 

Using the original sponge is a bit much. But I was thinking of buying a new sponge, cutting it to size and soaking it in essential oil and putting it inside. Was wondering if I necessarily need to dilute the oil in vinegar and/or ammonia carbonate (smelling salts) before then...

According to one guide, I can use Epsom Salt & Sea Salt ground together in place of usual smelling-salts (which I can't get my hands on anyway). Think I'll try that.

 

why ?
do you have a lot of fainting spells ?

 

Oh! Thanks so much for showing this here. I just read a book that referred to a Vinaigrette and even with a dictionary definition, I couldn't comprehend its use. My guess is that this device was more to counter the dreadful smells of Olde London than for fainting (although I can imagine fainting at some of those smells).

 

Shangas, you know there are things (certain chemicals, foods, etc.) which are not recommended for use on, in, around silver (and here you are lucky enough to have found a little sterling silver treasure).

So, Shangas, I am going to word this in a semi-crude way but . . .

Let's say you had found a lovely 200-year-old chamber pot and you know what it is. Another person thinks it is a flowerpot. Does that mean that you have to float fecal matter in your chamber pot to convince (show off to) the other person that it is indeed a chamber pot?

 

Put sea salt and anything in there and in a few months you have a heap of silver chloride. Never let salt near silver.

I have my doubts about Wikipedia saying that smelling salts were used from vinaigrettes. A good whiff of ammonia is unpleasant at all times, but it does have a physiological effect on breathing and the heart to relieve the symptoms of 'fainting'.

I suspect ammonium carbonate or sal ammoniac were kept in glass smelling salts bottles for the specific use they are effective for. No one would take one out and sniff it for pleasure. Not more than once anyway.

The elegant silver cases were reserved for alcoholic infusions of pleasantly scented substances which incidentally would not corrode the silver. Since modern perfumes are still mostly alcohol and blended aromatic substances, dropping a bit of Chanel or Guerlain in there should do not harm.

Essential oils are just modern witchcraft, mostly, and about as essential as halitosis, so I'd avoid them.

 

As af says, anything reactive will totally ruin the interior of this thing. And the reason salts are called salts is because they ARE chemically reactive with metals. I'd not put anything in it, although af's alcohol based scent is fine. But not one of the modern ones.

 

I made the mistake of leaving a tiny silver salt spoon in one of my open salts and ruined it.

 

I also happen to know that these things were gilt (as mine is) to prevent the silver from being damaged by anything put inside it. The layer of gold isn't just there to look pretty, you know...

I don't want to put anything into this other than what went into it 200 years ago. I'm just trying to figure out what that is.

 

You just find the best stuff.

 

Hi Bev,

Thanks! I only buy stuff which I can either use, or which I find truly interesting or special. Rare stuff that most people won't have.