Chats on Old Copper and BrassBurgess, Fred. W. (Frederick William)
History
Chats on Old Copper and Brass
Burgess, Fred. W. (Frederick William)
Brasses; Brasswork; Copper; Copperwork; Metal-work -- Collectors and collecting
The metal-work so freely imported into this country in the reign of
William and Mary, and on into the times of George III, of course
included many tobacco-boxes, but there are other pieces of those
periods, the uses of which are uncertain; some of the long, narrow
boxes were probably made for spectacle-cases, and others as cases or
boxes for the money-changers' and traders' scales (see Chapter XI).
Ash-trays of copper and brass, among the fanciful smokers' requisites
of the present day, are by no means novel, for among the antiques in
metal are found curious copper bowls with inverted feet and wooden
handles which were used by smokers in the days when "churchwarden"
pipes were mostly smoked; they were known as smokers' ashes pans.
Tobacco-stoppers of metal are of early date, and seem to have been
regarded by metal-workers as peculiarly suitable objects on which to
display skill in modelling and even engraving. An authentic record
of their use in Restoration days is met with in a will referring to
a bequest of Boscobel relics: "The owner of an old oak box, dated
1660, mentioned it as the 'one in which was a brass tobacco-stopper.'"
Of these curious and interesting stoppers there are many varieties.
Under Dutch influence some striking characters were portrayed as the
ornamental heads of these pieces. In the days of William and Mary they
were chiefly cast, and afterwards tooled and even engraved. James II
was chosen as the model of many; and stoppers with his bust as the
handle were, it is said, treasured by Jacobean admirers. The human hand
in which is seen a "churchwarden" pipe is a favourite type; pugilists,
too, figured, and others typified familiar objects of local fame,
even animals, birds, and domestic utensils serving the purpose of the
designer. In recent days "Punch" has appeared, and among the modern
replicas of "early types" (_sic_) to be seen in the shops are sets of
Dickens's characters as tobacco-stoppers.
Snuff-boxes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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