Table Crumbs and Tabletop Antiques

Throughout the latter part of the 19th C., through the Gilded Age and the very early part of the 20th C., sterling flatware designers, silver companies and even a few knowledgeable jewelers, changed names of sterling utensils, the utensil designs occasionally, and renamed designs of utensils to suit regional tastes and even the personal food preferences of customers. Many utensils we know today, like steak knives or grapefruit spoons, started out with different names and they had different purposes, which Etiquipedia has highlighted before in posts – “Grapefruit spoons” were originally “orange spoons”, “steak knives” were originally “bird knives”, etc…. I have long suspected that this practice went on even more with silver plated utensils, as they were less expensive to work with and experiment on.

This image above shows an ice cream server hidden in the back of the ad, and a larger version of the same utensil, shown at the bottom of the page, is listed as a table *“crumber.” This image and text is from the book, “Collector’s Handbook for Grape Nuts” by Susie MacLachlan, 1970. When I first saw this book I assumed it was a cookbook for lovers of Grape Nuts cereal. I was stunned when I opened it to find that it is a book written for flatware collectors, especially for those who are nuts for the silver plated pattens, Vintage and Moselle, which feature lovely grapes in their designs.

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* Table Crumbing Etiquette: The cake looks inviting, but the salt and pepper? Not as much. The shakers should have been removed along with the crumbs. Tables should be crumbed after a meal, prior to when the dessert or fruit and cheese is served. When the table is crumbed, the salts, peppers and any other superfluous items and wines from previous courses should be removed, as well. It makes the dessert, sweets, fruit, cheeses, or other final courses look much more appetizing when the dinner table “extras” have been removed.

There it is, in the upper left corner of this old picture from a 1910 Home Journal, hiding behind the soup ladle. The newsletter was sent to me from Michigan by a friend, Louise Pursley. I tried to photo copy it, but it didn't reproduce well, so I went to the source. I bought the original article from Margaret Alves for the grand sum of $2.00, and got her blessing as well. Talk about bargains.

A number of factors make grape collecting confusing - but fascinating. From 1904 to 1918 pieces were redesigned, renamed or possibly even changed in size. Special orders combined parts of different pieces, and manufacturers freely swapped blanks, inserts and brand names.

Margaret Alves, editor of the Stirring Souvenir Spoon Newsletter, said above item “looks like a crumber or table scraper to me.”

Bill Bliss sent a book listing it as a "Portland Fish Serving Knife." The next day I bought the one pictured at a local shop! Bill also mentioned a variation in a 1915 catalog-an “Ice Cream Server HH” with the neck portion about one inch longer, and blade slightly wider.

Ed Hogan said manufacturers were "quite willing" to supply their standard patterns, and even blade and bowl inserts to their flatware lines for special orders.

Over the time span pieces became less ornate. Clay Crousen said they were ‘simplified and redesigned,” adding that size differences may have been created in the change.

VINTAGE

A. Hollow Handled ICE CREAM SERVER OR SLICER, 13"

$7.00-$40.00

No catalog number. Fish Knife

Original WHOLESALE

price $3.50

No catalog number. Fish Knife, H. H.

Original WHOLESALE price

$4.50

B. PORTLAND FISH KNIFE (FLAT), 12"

$7.00-$40.00

No catalog number. Ice Cream Server

Original WHOLESALE price $4.50

– From the book, “Collector’s Handbook for Grape Nuts” by Susie MacLachlan, 1970

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia