You can never have too many sugar tongs but this collection still stirred up a sweet surprise.
Hansons Auctioneers’ valuer Edwyn Pym was left tongue-tied when he nipped in the bud a collection of 157 mainly silver-plated sugar tongs. They were discovered just over the border in Nottinghamshire.
For as long as tea has been quaffed in the western world sugar has been used to sweeten it. At the end of the 17th century British sugar imports reached 70,000 tonnes. Lidded sugar bowls, tea caddies and teapots became popular and etiquette deemed tongs essential to transfer sugar cubes from bowl to cup.
Fire tongs inspired their design. Slender arms and curved ends were perfect to move coal from bucket to fire. Early sugar nips resembled miniature fire irons. To make them fit for purpose, the ends were heated and hammered to provide tension.
These nips had small, flat oval bowls but this design was soon replaced by more practical dish bowls, better suited for moving sugar lumps. Between 1720 and 1730 tongs took on a scissor shape. Later in the 18th century this design slowly disappeared and bow-shaped tongs became fashionable.
The sugar tongs are expected to make £500 in Hansons Auctioneers’ August 15-20 Antiques and Collectors Auction.
Entries invited until August 9. Email [email protected] or call 01283 733988.
