THIS ITEM IS SOLD
Very nice 1700's sugar nippers with spring steel opener. It has a appealing aged patina with smoothed dark rusty metal finish. Sugar nippers like these date back to before the 1850s. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, sugar came molded in the shape of hard and dense cones wrapped in blue paper. Nippers were used at the table to break off a chunk for use in coffee or tea. If granulated sugar was needed, the chunks would have to be crushed with a mortar and pestle. The cone-shaped sugar loaf was such a common sight until the later 19th century that everyone knew what it looked like. Mountains and hats were named after it. Even the paper it was wrapped in played a part in domestic life. Most sugar loaves sourced from the Americas were wrapped in blue indigo paper which was recycled as a source of dye for yarn or cloth.
Size: 8" H x 3" W x .25" DWeight: 4 ozs


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