{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O94870"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O94870/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O94870","accessionNumber":"M.962-1927","objectType":"Nutmeg grater","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Nutmeg had been used by the wealthy in England since the fourteenth century to flavour ale (and to freshen breath). The popularity of toddy, a warmed mixture of rum, water, sugar, lemon juice and grated nutmeg, from the 1780s to the 1830s, made pocket graters an essential item for those drinkers able to afford nutmeg. This grater was part of a large collection of graters bequeathed to the Museum by two brothers in 1927 as a silver piece made in Edinburgh in 1870-71. However, despite the unusual layout of the ostentatious assay marks on the rectangular back panel of the grater, traces of copper beneath the silver on the hinges and on other panels suggest the grater is made of plated metal instead. Moreover, although by law all separate components of the grater should be marked to show they are of sterling silver standard, the only additional mark is a duty mark punched on the underside of the lid. It would be more usual to expect a maker's mark or the thistle mark (the Scottish mark for sterling standard silver). The marks on the rectangular back panel also exhibit features which are incongruous for their date. The sharply-pointed towers on the castle, the mark of the Edinburgh assay office, recall the form of the punch in the 1770s and so do not tally with the letter 'O', which indicates the assay year is 1870-71. The duty mark - Queen Victoria's head in profile - is also flawed. The queen's hairstyle does not match the official form of the punch. Similarly, the thistle which represents the sterling mark, and the letter 'O' to denote the year of assay, are both excessively elongated when compared to the official designs. The maker's mark is ostensibly that of the Edinburgh workshop of Mackay, Cunningham and Co. (active 1856 to 1912), but the letters are clumsy and indistinct, suggesting it is either an imitation or the mark of a different, non-Scottish, workshop. Imitations of the castle and thistle marks of the Edinburgh Assay Office were used by Indian workshops run by Scottish silversmiths (eg. Middleton and Company of Calcutta), and Indian retailers sometimes added local sterling silver marks to plated goods imported from Europe to India. Given these factors, the grater is unlikely to be an example of late-nineteenth-century Edinburgh silver, but it could be a piece of plated ware exported to India, to which marks were subsequently added. The Museum would like to thank Dr John Reckless, Dr Michael Rowe and Anthony Dove for querying the Edinburgh origin of the marks and the grater.","physicalDescription":"Nutmeg grater, oblong, engine-turned, the lid laterally hinged, and both ends open.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Copper plated with silver, hinged, rectangular","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Eating","id":"THES48963"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"67","id":"THES49731"},"free":"","case":"17","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"nutmeg grater","id":"AAT200453"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1900-1927","earliest":"1900-01-01","latest":"1927-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Gift of Guy and Rupert Oswald Smith","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"6.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"2.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Marked on the back of the case in a unified stamp struck twice to form a cross.\nMarks left to right: thistle (Scottish mark for sterling standard silver), maker's mark MC&Co. (for Mackay, Cunningham &amp; Co.); castle (Edinburgh Assay Office).\nMarks top to bottom: duty mark (Queen Victoria's head in profile), date letter 'O' for assay year 1870-71.\n\nInside the lid: duty mark.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":"A8728"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"Monogram: SB","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":"A8728"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Gift of Guy Oswald Smith & his brother R.O. Smith, Mayfair","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Nutmeg grater, silver-plated copper, possibly marked in India 1870-1907, with marks as sterling standard silver for Edinburgh, 1870-71, and workshop of Mackay, Cunningham &amp; Co.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Jackson's Silver &amp; Gold Marks of England, Scotland &amp; Irelan</u><u>d</u>, ed. Ian Pickford. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club, 1989. Third edition, revised. ISBN 0907462634"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Edinburgh-M.html#MC"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Oswald Smith, G., 'Silver Nutmeg Graters or Spice Boxes', <u>The Connoisseur</u>, vol. 19 (September - December 1907), 169-73."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bernard Hughes, G., 'Silver Nutmeg Graters', <u>Country Life</u>, 30 December 1954, pp. 2306-7."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Miles, Elizabeth B. <u>The English Silver Pocket Nutmeg Grater. A collection of fifty examples from 1693 to 1816</u>. Cleveland, Ohio, 1966."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wilkinson, W.R.T. <u>The makers of Indian colonial silver. A register of European goldsmiths, silversmiths, jewellers, watchmakers and clockmakers in India and their marks 1760-1860</u>. London: The Author, 1987."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Unified Punches\n30. Nutmeg Grater\nSilver\nEdinburgh 1870-71\nMC &amp; Co (unidentified)\nMarked on the case in a unified stamp struck twice to form a cross. Left to right: thistle, maker MC&amp;Co, castle for Edinburgh assay office; top to bottom: duty, date letter O for 1870-71. The duty mark is also punched on the inside of the lid.\nG.O. &amp; R.O Smith Gift\nM.962-1927","date":{"text":"1999-2000","earliest":"1999-01-01","latest":"2000-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["M.962-1927"],"accessionNumberNum":"962","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1927,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2004-03-03","availableToBook":false}}