Silver Dish & Spoon For Nuts or Something Else?

Hi,
I picked up a Birks sterling spoon and dish. I thought the dish was an open salt missing the glass liner, but have come across 2 described as nut dishes. So would this be a nut dish?
The dish is 3 3/4"L x 2 1/2"W x 1"H,the spoon is 4 1/4" in length.
thanks for looking!

 

Obviously neither is actually capable of holding anything. With the small size, they must be a pretend set for the little ones.

 

Bon-bon dish and spoon.

~Cheryl

 

The spoon really is a nut spoon. At first I didn't think (with its plain handle end) that it was a match pattern-wise for the bowl, but I think I see that both pieces have the same monogram, so maybe they are.

The nuts to be served would not have had the kind of "dust" we see today, so IMHO what you've seen for ID is not totally unlikely.

For "individual service," Terry, which is why they are so small.

 

Oh! Bon-bons! I always forget about them!

 

thanks folks. Great eyes baker, both have same monogram! I really like spoon, makes me think of a spider web.

 

Little, teeny tiny, bonbons?

 

I would call it a nut cup/dish, possibly part of a set? The other I would call a bon bon/nut spoon, I think I have over 40 now. Time to off them, I think..

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...ling+nut+cups&_nkw=sterling+nut+cups&_sacat=0



http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...bon+spoon&_nkw=sterling+bonbon+spoon&_sacat=0

 

Individual nut dishes were generally just a bit smaller (and wouldn't have had a spoon), though it sometimes depended on whatever the manufacturers or retailers chose to call them. Even though this is at the small end for bon-bons (and could certainly be used for nuts too, as could the spoon), it was more likely intended for general placement on a table, sometimes they were sold in pairs, one used at each end of the table - these probably date from the early 20th century.

~Cheryl

 

I forget that not all bonbons were the size of baseballs, like they tend to be these days.

 

Here's a set connecting it to Gorham? Made or designed by Gorham? - Retailed through Birks? Or, looks just like?

http://ancientpoint.com/inf/45200-b...dishes_pierced_pompadour_gorham_cromwell.html

 

Birks bought Gorham's Canadian division in 1907, so it may well be a Gorham design.

As mentioned, similar dishes might appear in other catalogs as nut (or almond) dishes, and they may have been sold at some point in sets for use as individual nut dishes, but a 1911 Birks catalog refers to them as 'Small Pierced Bonbon Dishes' - the souvenir 'Bonbon Spoon' appears in their 1905 catalog.

~Cheryl

 

Thank you, Cheryl.

 

@DragonflyWink Cheryl, thank-you so much for the catalog pages, so great to see them and have an idea of when they were sold!

 

Bearing in mind that at the time the dollars was 3/4 ounce of silver (give or take) which you are exchanging for other silver, the amount charged for manufacture, distribution and profit was not all that high.

Just looked at some modern sterling cutlery and the markup was about ten times the silver value.

 

Back in the day it was rude to pluck the bon bons from the dish by hand.

 

Like the men coming out of the john and taking a handful of peanuts from the bowl on the bar.

 

I can't get that image out of my head now. Here's one for you in return: kids digging in their nostrils and eating what comes out.

 

What else do you do with bogies?