{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O59330"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O59330/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM8461/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM8461/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM8461","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM8442","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O59330/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O59330","accessionNumber":"M.26-2000","objectType":"Asparagus tongs","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>Large tongs for serving portions of asparagus have been made since the mid-18th century. The desire to serve diners more elegantly, without touching the food, led to the development of specialised dining equipment.<br><br><b>Design & Designing</b><br>Early asparagus servers were made in two styles, the scissor action and the sprung U- shape, which resemble the designs of contemporary sugar tongs. However, these examples are in a later style, with a spring mechanism and flat broad blades for lifting and holding the asparagus spears. By the late 19th century, when this style of server appeared, the range of serving dishes and helpers or tongs for asparagus had grown enormously. Trays with drainers, stands, dishes with wells for sauce as well as new designs for servers were now available. The decorative motifs of winged animals and stylised lotus show that these servers were designed in the Egyptian taste, which had several revivals in popularity during the 19th century.<br><br><b>Food & Drink</b><br>In the late 19th century asparagus was considered a great delicacy, which may explain why there were more utensils dedicated to it than to any other vegetable. In Mrs Beeton's <i>Book of Household Management</i>,  published in 1888, the author gives recipes for boiled asparagus on toast, asparagus and eggs, and asparagus pudding, 'a delicious dish to be served with the second course'.<br><br><b>The Electroplate Process</b><br>These asparagus servers were made by the electroplating method. The manufacturing firm of Elkington & Co., founded in Birmingham by George Richard Elkington (1801-1865) and his cousin Henry Elkington (about 1810-1852), exploited the development of the new manufacturing process of electroplating, in which silver is deposited on a base metal by the action of an electric current. Elkingtons revolutionised the silver and plating trades throughout the world by marketing electroplate as a cheaper substitute for silver.  People of limited means were therefore able to decorate their tables with items that had the look of silver, and thus conveyed wealth and status, but  at a much more affordable price.","physicalDescription":"These asparagus tongs are sprung in the centre with engraved handle, scrolls and stylised foliage.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Nickel silver","id":"AAT242125"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Electroplating","id":"AAT54000"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Electroplated nickel silver, engraved","categories":[{"text":"Tableware & cutlery","id":"THES48888"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"British Galleries","id":"THES48985"},{"text":"Eating","id":"THES48963"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AM8461","2006AM8442"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"125B (VA)","id":"THES49893"},"free":"","case":"CA2","shelf":"","box":"55"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Asparagus Tongs","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1890","earliest":"1885-01-01","latest":"1894-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"5.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions checked: Measured; 01/12/1999 by jc","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Large serving tongs were first made towards the end of the 1700s.  For many years they were all known as asparagus tongs, but it is now thought that the narrow-bladed examples were used to serve meat, since asparagus stalks would break when lifted unless the blades were broader.  Some early tongs operated like scissors, while others were hinged at the end, rather like fire tongs.  By the 1830s, however, most were made in an elongated U shape, the curved end formed from silver that was heated and beaten to give sufficient spring.\r\nMade in England\n\nHistorical significance: Similar tongs, electro-plated on nickel silver and with the King's handle, feature in the William Hutton & Sons catalogue of about 1880.  They are priced at 27s and are referred to as 'asparagus servers'.\r\n\r\nElectroplated nickel silver asparagus tongs feature in the J. Dixon & Sons catalogue of 1892.  The price for a similar example to this, but with an ivory handle, is 34s.  These are called 'asparagus helpers'. \r\n\r\n\"Victorian asparagus servers were sometimes sold as part of a complete asparagus service...it might comprise of a footed stand, a long pierced concave or flat bed dish for holding the spears and a long-handled shovel or scoop of matching curvature or shape for slipping under the spears and lifting them.  Ceramic asparagus dishes were also made; the bed might be made of parallel spears...A complete set includes special place plates, each with a butter well.  Finally, asparagus was frequently eaten by hand, as it is today.  Individual silver bow tongs for holding asparagus appeared in the latter half of the nineteenth century.  In such manner did dining become more fastidious.  These holders, sometimes listed as 'asparagus eaters' bear a close resemblance to sardine tongs and are of approximate length (8-12cm) of small sugar tongs...A less familiar type is one that has a hinge at one end and a split, flattened channel shape that may be decorated with an asparagus motif...Despite their short length, the sturdy construction and width of the blades (2cm) indicate that these devices could be servers or individual place cutlery.\"  ('Antique Silver Servers for the Dining Table', B.S. Rabinovitch, Joslin Hall Publishing, 1991, p.271)\r\n\r\nAccording to the 'Manners and Tone of Good Society' of about 1880, a \"knife and fork should be used, as the proper way of eating asparagus is to cut off the points and eat them as seakale or any other vegetable is eaten; it would not be proper to eat asparagus holding the stalks in the fingers.\"  (p.94)\r\n\r\nMrs Beeton, in her 'Book of Household Management', gives various suggestions for eating asparagus.  These include : boiled asparagus which is served on toast, dipped in the water the asparagus was cooked in; asparagus pudding - \"a delicious dish to be served with the second course\"; and asparagus peas, to be served either as an \"entremets or to be served as a side dish with the second course\".","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Electroplated asparagus tongs, English, late nineteenth century.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Antique Silver Servers for the Dining Table', B.S. Rabinovitch, Joslin Hall Publishing, 1991, p.271"}],"production":"Reason For Production: Retail","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"British Galleries:\nAsparagus servers had been developed in the 18th century. In the Victorian period they were often sold as part of an asparagus set which might include a ceramic serving dish and individual plates with butter wells. Similar servers feature in the catalogue of the silversmiths William Hutton & Sons of about 1880 and are priced at 27s (£1.35p).","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["M.26-2000"],"accessionNumberNum":"26","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":2000,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN0553","2019LP4912","2019LP1116","2019LT9019"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2001-06-01","availableToBook":false}}