Illustration 77 shows an urn-shaped knife-box opened. The top rests upon a wooden rod which extends through the middle of the box, and instead of turning back with a hinge, the top slides up on this rod, and when it is raised to a certain height it releases a spring which holds the rod firmly in its place. This urn knife-box is in the Pendleton collection in Providence, Rhode Island. Urn-shaped boxes were designed by Adam, and are shown in his drawings, to stand upon pedestals at each end of the side table, to be used, one for ice-water, and one for hot water, for the butler to wash the silver, not so plentiful then as now. Very soon the urn-shaped boxes were utilized to hold the knives, forks and spoons. Adam, Shearer, Hepplewhite and Sheraton show designs for knife-boxes, many of them elaborately carved or inlaid, but they must have been very costly, and within the means only of such noblemen, who, in Sheraton’s words, “are unrestrained with the thoughts of expensiveness.” The usual shape of knife-box found is shown in Illustration 78, owned by Mrs. Clarence R. Hyde, of Brooklyn, N. Y. It is inlaid both outside and inside and the handles and fittings are of silver. The books of designs show boxes of this shape, with the lid put back, as in this illustration, and used to support a large silver plate. [Illustration: Illus. 78.—Knife-box, 1790.] Mahogany was chiefly used in sideboards, with inlaying of satinwood, holly, king, tulip, snake, zebra, yew, maple, and other woods. Occasionally one finds a sideboard veneered with walnut. The curves at the front vary considerably, the ends being convex, and the centre straight; or the ends concave, forming with the centre a double curve. A sideboard with rounded ends and only four legs was made in large numbers around Philadelphia.