Slaves, whales, sugar and ivory

Today's elegant, desirable and exquisitely made antique from the Stephenson collection: A Georgian silver Toddy Ladle.

Everyone drank hot rum toddy punch between around 1700 and 1860, and traditionally it was the custom to serve it to guests who had just stepped off a coach following a long and arduous journey to come and see you. The drink would sit in a warmed bowl - possibly in the hall of a country house or inn - and would be poured into a classic 'Rummer' glass for you to regain your strength, warm up and generally put you in a better mood. This one dates from the late 18th century, and has a George the Third silver shilling set into the base of the bowl.

There was a brief phase whereby various novel ways of dispensing toddy were tried out, and one of these was a bulbous glass vial with a small hole in the top and bottom called a 'toddy-lifter'. You let your finger off the hole over the rummer, and the drink dribbled into the glass in a controlled fashion. It never really caught on, except amongst inn-keepers.

I have also had glasses called 'stirrup-cups'. These looked like ordinary glasses, but had no bases or feet on them. The reason for this is that they were meant to be used either by the passengers of coaches between stops to change horses, or by riders of horses who did not bother to dismount, so had no reason to set the glass down. Some Boxing Day hunt meets still use similar things.

I have had other toddy-ladles before too, but not one with an ornately carved, ivory handle like this one. Usually, the handles were made of a dark, twisted material called 'balleen', and looked like thin, polished hardwood.

Balleen was - in fact - made from the dried hairy stuff that forms a fringe around the mouths of certain whales, through which they filter the krill they feed on.

In those days, once you had caught a whale and brought it home, there was a lot of stuff to get rid of, and nothing went to waste.

You would have thought it would have been the same with elephants, but only the tusks were brought back from India, plus the occasional dried foot to plonk walking sticks in. Of course, I would much rather these objects were made using less exotic or intelligent creatures, but then it was simply another way of displaying precious materials to impress your friends. You have to remember that they were also bringing home live (mostly) African slaves to impress their friends then too. Ironically, it was the same African slaves who grew the sugar in the West Indies that was used to make the rum which went into the toddy. Like I said, nothing went to waste in the days when Britain ruled the waves.

Slavery, whaling and ivory poaching still goes on today, but the market is far less glamorous than it was when this ladle was made.