did. In consequence a great number of plated replicas were exported

to Ireland. They have an interest, and the example illustrated (p. 175) shows the class of work the Sheffield craftsmen turned out in emulation of their Irish silver prototypes. It is an ordinary pierced design embellished with festoons. Some of the Sheffield examples were finely pierced and chased in a manner no less perfect than the same class of work one finds on the sugar pails, the mustard pots, and the salt cellars of the best period. The Butter Dish illustrated (p. 175) fully exemplifies this type of work at its best. It is oval and finely pierced with an unusual design giving in silhouette the effect of diaper ornament. It is on four ball and claw feet, and the lid is chased and is surmounted by a pineapple. The handles are twisted. These vessels, like the others enumerated above with pierced work, are furnished with blue glass liners, and these collectors are fortunate who find bargains with the original glass liners.

=Inkstands and Taper Holders.=--The old Sheffield plated inkstand is beloved by collectors. The oval tray was always an elegant piece of work, either pierced with fine running design over an extended surface as border top and bottom and often chased with medallions. The three examples illustrated (p. 179) are from an eighteenth century Pattern Book issued in 1792 by Messrs. J. Parsons & Co. of Sheffield. Written in ink on the first page for information of continental buyers is "_Jn. Green escompte 30%_." Green was one of the partners of the firm. This little book in paper covers has no less than eighty-four copper plate engravings, and for the delectation of the later collector the prices are written in ink throughout. The prices of the examples illustrated are "21s. Each" the two top ones, and "30s. Each" the lower example.

It will be seen that the latter has three pots. The pounce pot was always a necessary portion to the old inkstand, being used as a sifter in the days before blotting paper was invented. Fine sand was dusted over the writing. It would appear that the pounce pot with its perforated lid is on the left in all the three examples. The centre pot in the lowest inkstand was additional, though not as one might at first assume for a different coloured ink as the lid has not the same cover as those for ink with a tiny hole in centre. It was apparently a receptacle for some of the appurtenances of the writing table, certainly not pens, for steel nibs were not then invented, and every one wrote with a quill pen which he could sharpen with a penknife. Nowadays the art of cutting a quill by hand is one of the lost arts.

An illustration from a Design Book issued by Robert Cadman and Co. of Sheffield about 1797 gives three examples of Taper Holders (p. 183). The nozzle at the top shows the tiny light from the coiled wax taper. The apex of the stand really consists of a miniature candlestick. Two of the stands, as will be seen, have the handles and thumb pieces at the bottom. They are all of varying form; that on the left has a canopy covering the coiled taper, that in the centre encloses the taper in a wire cage, while the example on the left is the simplest in construction and enables us to see how the taper as it burned was thrust upwards to the aperture at the top. All three have extinguishers attached by a chain. Some of the descriptions in the book from which these designs are reproduced are in French as well as English, as it was intended for use in the Continental markets.

VI

TEAPOTS

TEA AND

COFFEE SETS

TEA KETTLES

COFFEE POTS

SUGAR BASINS