Chambersticks

Modest and practical, the silver chamberstick was in use during the seventeenth century, but examples are not generally found before the last quarter of the century. In the line of the old nursery rhyme, ‘Here comes a candle to light you to bed’, the words refer to a chamberstick which consisted of a saucer-shaped base for safety, with a short candle-socket in its centre, and a simple handle by which to carry it around the house. Larger homes might later have an assortment of such chambersticks set upon a table in the hall, a person taking one when it was needed and lighting it from a special master taper. Usually made of a lighter metal, the diameter of the saucer-shaped dish varied but generally measured about six inches, the short socket standing about three inches high. Most late seventeenth and eighteenth century examples would have a shapely scroll handle soldered beneath the base and curving upwards.

The second decade or so of the eighteenth century saw the introduction of the chamberstick which incorporated a pair of snuffers, a slot to contain these being in the dish beneath the candle-socket, at the middle of the round or oblong dish. A cone-shaped extinguisher, perhaps surmounted by a ball finial at the apex, was also commonly included. The socket with a detachable nozzle and wider rim for catching the drips of grease appeared more generally a few years later. Chambersticks followed contemporary styles in ornament, their rims and bases commonly reeded, and, during the neo-classical period, an urn-shaped candle-socket appeared which was placed on a rectangular tray, often standing upon four ball feet, and decorated by reeding, beading or gadrooning. During the Regency period the dish increased in size and was heavily decorated with naturalistic and shell ornament, as were the snuffers which were similarly chased in high relief.

Antique Collector MagazineUntil the first decade or so of the nineteenth century chambersticks were available in pairs and sets of varying numbers. Victorian chambersticks generally reverted to the circular dish. One pattern of particularly popular appeal which was produced during the middle of the nineteenth century was in the shape of a leaf with the stalk trailing round to form a handle, and its socket flower-shaped: convolvulus, regina lily and nasturtium being much favoured. Chambersticks were not only useful in years gone by: today they can come into their own during power cuts, and meanwhile they make attractive ornaments.

Snuffers

Candlelight was not at all the romantic vision we tend to have of it today, for there were certain unpleasant side-issues. One was the unctuous aroma which the tallow emitted, particularly when the wick was incorrectly extinguished, and another was that, to provide a steady light, the wick needed to be constantly trimmed since the tallow or wax melted faster than the wick burned. It was not until approximately the time of Queen Victoria that the non-guttering candlestick was introduced which meant that the wick, then made from a more closely-woven structure, eliminated the problem. Previously the greasy wick, if permitted to go unsnuffed, would loll over into the melted fat, resulting in unpleasant fumes and spluttering. A pair of snuffers, therefore, were the answer. Snuffers were a very basic device, in appearance rather like scissors, except that a box was soldered to one blade to contain the charred bits of wick (snuff) cut off by the scissors.

Although snuffers were known before the seventeenth century, it was not until after about 1660 that silver examples began to be mentioned more regularly in inventories and diaries. Samuel Pepys referred in 1667 to a new acquisition: ‘this night comes home my new silver snuff dish which I do give myself for my closet’, and an item in the papers of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, reveals that he paid £3 13s 4d (about £3.67) for snuffers and pan in 1721. Snuffers were generally plain, although the box might be decorated by a little engraving and, in some cases, fluting. The box was perhaps rectangular, oval, semi-circular, lozenge- or barrel-shaped. After approximately the middle of the eighteenth century three feet appeared on the base of snuffers, below the box and two handles. Snuffer handles became increasingly more ornate, and a coiled spring, concealed by a boss, was incorporated at the pivoting joint so that they would remain closed after use. A later development, which lowered the price of snuffers, used steel for the cutting blades and box, while the handles were made in sterling silver. The box, too, might have applied silver decoration. Matthew Boulton and others produced many such separate pieces for snuffers well into the nineteenth century, and the various sections were then joined by silversmiths.

While the utilitarian snuffers did the work, it was the snuffer tray which was the beautiful complement to the prosaic device. It had not always been so. The snuffer tray or dish had played an unimportant role throughout the fashion for the upright snuffer stand incorporating a vertical socket for the snuffer box. This stand had originated in the seventeenth century, and was popular for the first three decades or so of the eighteenth century. But at about this time, with the tide of rococo decoration sweeping through domestic silver, the snuffer tray came into its own as a thing of more beauty than the upright stand which did not lend itself so well to decoration. A gracious scroll handle now adorned the tray, the sides of which curved elegantly inwards, while the everted rims were enhanced with finely-chased rococo motifs. Three ornamental feet were added, and rims became all-important, reflecting the styles of contemporary table-trays. Others might have pierced vertical rims or be elliptical in form until, by the last two decades of the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth, there was an increasingly wide range of styles. Snuffers, too, were generally more elaborate. Trays made after about 1825 were excessively decorated in the usual revived styles. In addition to the wide variety of snuffer dishes in silver, there was an amazing diversity in Sheffield plate, while others were made in Sheffield plate but had decorative sterling silver mounts. Electro-plated examples were also produced.

Tapersticks

Throughout the eighteenth century miniature candlesticks were made, which echoed the fashionable styles of ordinary candlesticks. They usually measured around four to six inches in height and were used to hold slender wax tapers which provided an instant flame before automatic lighting and friction matches came into general use. They were known variously as tobacco candlesticks (for smokers), tapersticks or tea candlesticks. The latter, usually more decorative after about the fourth decade of the eighteenth century, generally held tapers of English beeswax which emitted a more fragrant aroma than other types and was thus better suited to the genteel eighteenth century tea ritual. Chamber tapersticks with small sockets and conical extinguishers, decorated by shell and foliage rims and handles, became more general in the early nineteenth century, particularly in Sheffield plate.

Wax jacks and bougie boxes

Apart from the small flame which tapersticks provided for various domestic purposes, there were also certain gadgets which provided flames for specific requirements, among them ’sealing tapers’. The wax jack and the bougie box are included in this category. The former, found less frequently in sterling silver than in Sheffield plate, is a strange-looking device, consisting of a small saucer-shaped dish with a handle, upon which was set a framework to hold, either vertically or horizontally, a reel of taper which was then inserted through a nozzle. The taper was thus held in an upright position while its flame was utilised. A conical-shaped extinguisher was sometimes attached by a chain, with a tiny stand upon the dish to hold it.

The silver bougie box, also made in Sheffield plate, consisted of a circular `box‘ approximately three inches in diameter, with a handle attached, and a hingeless lid, in the centre of which was a funnel-shaped hole with a nozzle through which the taper was taken. No doubt this small box proved especially useful in preventing mice from nibbling the taper. The name bougie derives from Bougiah, the name of the Algerian town from which bleached wax was imported.

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