Sterling Silver Sugar Sucriers, Sifters, Spoons and Scoops

Sugar sucriers (sugar bowls), sugar casters, sugar sifting spoons and sugar scoops: what an elegant and genteel history our forebears left us. How pleasurable it must have been to take sugar with tea, drinks or dessert using these wonderful sterling silver objects and implements.

No doubt you have a sugar bowl (also known as a sucrier) somewhere about the house, sterling silver or otherwise, but have you ever heard of a sugar caster, a sugar sifting spoons or sugar scoops before?

Sugar casters, which have been used from the Seventeenth Century, were the natural progression from sugar boxes. Sugar boxes were often highly ornamented and decorative to advertise their owner’s wealth, yet were not convenient for using at the dinner table while eating or drinking. The term ‘caster’ is a reference to the way which the sugar is cast across the food, and dispensed evenly. The shape and form of the silver sugar caster is based on the need to sprinkle sugar when sweetening drinks or food. Therefore the pierced dome shape of the top of the sugar caster allows sugar to pass through delicately and gradually, while the solid bottom of the caster is the container for the sugar. Generally, the height of the sugar caster has grown over time.

Sugar sifters are small ladle shaped spoons which could be used at the table to take the powdered sugar from sugar bowls or sugar baskets and sprinkle it over fruit, puddings or cakes. During the Nineteenth Century refined sugar became cheaper and thus readily available to a larger section of the population. Sugar sifter spoons developed in the mid Eighteenth Century and are similar in form and size to sauce ladles, but with flattened bowl bases. The bowls were decorated with elaborate pierced patterns.

Sugar scuttles were Victorian inventions and the first examples appeared in the 1850s. Many unusual items were first introduced in this period to coincide with the Great Exhibitions. They were made throughout the latter part of the Victorian period and into the early Twentieth Century. They went out of vogue after the Second World War. Always in the shape of a coal scuttle with a slanted body open at one end and sitting on a pedestal foot, together with a matching serving spoon or scoop that was hung either on a handle or on the scuttle lip. Many were hand engraved or chased with floral work.

This year the FFF+ Group have decided to have a weekly challenge called “Snap Happy”. A different theme chosen by a member of the group each week, and the image is to be posted on the Monday of the week.

This week the theme, “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with an S” was chosen by Laszlo,Laszlo Papinot.

I immediately thought of sterling silver when Laszlo announced the theme. Then I thought that sugar also starts with an ‘s’, so I called in some favours from some like-minded friends to share some pieces of sugar related sterling silver to meet this week’s theme.

Top left: an Art Deco sugar caster made in 1935 by Aaron Lufkin Dennison of Handsworth, Birmingham. (Private collection.)
Aaron Lufkin Dennison was an American watchmaker and businessman who founded a number of companies. Born in Maine in 1812, around 1862, Aaron Dennison started a business making watch cases in Birmingham and supplied the London office of the Waltham Watch Company. In 1879, Alfred Wigley joined Aaron to form the firm of Dennison, Wigley & Company. Aaron died in Birmingham in 1895. Following his death, his son Franklin became a partner in the firm. This very successful company continued until 1905 when it was renamed the Dennison Watch Case Company, and that company continued until 1967. As well as producing watch cases, they also produced luxury silver goods.

Top middle: a large Victorian Rococo Revival sucrier made in 1840 by Patrick Loughlin of Great Ship Street, Dublin. (Private collection).
This ornately decorated sugar bowl is wonderfully large, with a 15 centimetre diameter and measuring 10 centimetres in height. Obviously its owners were wealthy, and perhaps liked to display their wealth through such a large sucrier. Irish silver is quite rare, with much British assayed pieces melted down during the fraught relationship between Britain and Ireland. This piece is also rare because Patrick Loughlin was only a silversmith between 1831 and 1848.

Top right: a Georgian sugar caster made in 1801 by Thomas Wallis II in London. (Private collection).
Apprenticed to his father, Thomas Wallis I, silversmith Thomas Wallis II first registered himself in 1777. In 1810, Thomas Wallis II entered in partnership with silversmith Jonathan Hayne and established Thomas Wallis and Company.

Bottom left: a sifting ladle made in 1853 by the silversmiths firm Yapp and Woodward in Birmingham. (Private collection).
John Yapp and John Woodward registered their business in 1845. At one stage they were partners with Joseph Willmore. They were renowned for making Visiting Card Cases. It is not usually possible to identify the artist or designer responsible for a particular design on a piece of cutlery, which makes this sifting ladle a delightful exception to the rule.

Bottom second from left: a Georgian revival sucrier made in 1901 in Chester by William Aitken of Vyse Street, Birmingham. (Private collection).
William Aitken was a maker of sterling silver and silver plated items during the Victorian and Edwardian period in Birmingham between 1891 and 1904 and was also active in Chester at the same time. His motto was “Nothing is too large; nothing is too small”. It was said of him that “it is an impossibility to mention any article which can be made in silver that is not in the stock of this maker”.

Middle bottom: a Regency Revival sucrier made in 1925 in Birmingham by the silversmiths Charles Boyton and Son Ltd. manufacturing silversmiths, Upper Charles Street, London. (Private collection).
The firm of Charles Boyton and sons was founded in 1809 and eventually wound up in 1933. The director Charles Boyton junior (1885 - 1958) broke away from the old firm and set up wholesale silversmiths in Maryebone Lane and a retail premises in Wigmore Street in 1934. Some of his work is inspired the Pyramid pattern designed Harold Nielson in 1926 for George Jonson. His business closed in 1939.

Bottom fourth from left: an Art Nouveau sucrier made in Dublin in 1908 by Sharman Dermott Neill. (Private collection).
Sharman Dermott Neill established the retail business of Sharman D. Neill on the Edgware Rd, London around 1852. It remained open until 1880. Premises in Donegall Place, Belfast were established in 1884. In 1909 the firm was converted into a Ltd. Sharman Dermott Neill was a descendent of Robert Neill, who in partnership with Henry Gardner, advertised \'Telescopes\' in 1810. Sharman D. Neill Ltd. is still open at 7 - 9 Royal Avenue, Belfast, selling luxury goods and jewellery.

Bottom right: a sugar scoop made in 1898 by Robert James Chaplin and Sons of Aldersgate Street, London. (Private collection).
This sugar scoop is unusual because unlike most, it has a long handle. Most sugar scoops have stumpy silver handles, yet this one has a long handle made of ivory. The silversmiths James Chaplin and Sons was registered in 1890. It closed in 1921. It is not usually possible to identify the artist or designer responsible for a particular design on a piece of cutlery, which makes this sugar scoop a delightful exception to the rule.

Taken on: June 22, 2020

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I spy with my little eye, something beginning with an S

silver

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scoop

sugar caster

Aaron Lufkin Dennison

1935

Deco

Art Deco

Victorian

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1840

Birmingham

Dublin

Patrick Loughlin

Irish silver

Georgian

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Thomas Wallis II

Thomas Wallis

sugar sifting ladle

sugar sifting spoon

sifting spoon

sifting ladle

sugar scoop

Yapp and Woodward

John Yapp

John Woodward

London

1853

William Aitken

Chester

1901

Georgian Revival

Regency Revival

1925

Charles Boyton and Son Ltd

Charles Boyton and Son Limited

Charles Boyton

Sharman Dermott Neill

Sharman D Neill

Belle Époque

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1898

Robert James Chaplin and Sons

Robert James Chaplin

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