Tea caddies
by Madden Cold
| 25 November, 2007 |
Excerpt of an article from the Collectables column of Business Day dated 6th March 2002There is a market for tea containers in SA. Collectors come from Japan, the US and the UK to take advantage of the rand’s exchange rate. WHEN Catherine of Braganza, daughter of John IV of Portugal, went to England to become the bride of Charles II, she took a handsome dowry — Bombay and Tangier, and a pound of tea, probably transported in an early tea caddy. Tea was not yet the national drink of England, and Catherine wanted to assure herself of a goodly supply of her favourite beverage. As it became more popular, smuggling provided a source for the masses. Parson Woodforde, according to his diaries, paid Smuggler Andrews, his regular supplier, 10 shillings and sixpence for a pound of tea. As tea remained expensive, the tea caddy of the 18th century was designed to store the commodity under lock and key to discourage servants from pilfering. And as tea became more easily available in the 19th century, caddies became larger and often had two compartments: one for black tea and one for green, says Louise Montanari of Montanari’s Antiques, Art Deco & Collectables in Parkview. According to Margaret Holland in An Illustrated Guide to Collecting Silver, caddies were rectangular or octagonal in shape “with a little dome centrally on top” during Queen Anne’s reign. Plain boxes with hinged lids replaced this impractical design. Holland says the latter are more popular with collectors as they can be put to practical use. Vase-shaped caddies with small round tops appeared around 1750. Some were made in sets of three — two smaller ones for tea and a larger one for sugar — notably by Samuel Taylor of London. Holland describes an interesting piece by Abraham Buteaux of London (around 1730) with a set of rectangular tea caddies and a sugar box in a veneered ebony case. “It is a collector’s dream to find a full set in its original box.” As befitting receptacles for a precious commodity, caddies were beautifully made from a variety of materials, including silver, satinwood, mahogany, rosewood and tortoiseshell. Riccardo Montanari says there is a market for tea caddies in SA and collectors are coming from Japan, the US and the UK to take advantage of the rand’s exchange rate . “However, tea caddies are scarce, especially the silver items.” He says caddies made of rosewood, satinwood and mahogany are rare but not as sought after as their silver counterparts. “They don’t often come on the market and it seems collectors are hanging onto collections.” He prices a late Victorian silver- plated tea caddy with a design based on Hepplewhite at R870. Jeremy Astfalck of The Old Corkscrew Antiques & Collectables in Franschhoek says silver caddies with the Liberty stamp are particularly collectable. Liberty’s of London was one of the biggest silver retailers in England between 1919 and about 1930. A 1925 Birmingham silver piece by Liberty’s has a price tag of R12000. Maryanne Rowlings of AD Antiques in Parkhurst prices a small Sheffield-plated caddy at R1200. |