Sardine Tongs Hallmark

[jasonjburgess]

Another piece I got from an estate lot.  I believe these are Sardine Tongs.  The design is stunning, these were black when I got them, after cleaning i saw a hallmark one with an arrow on one side of the connector (an arrow) and the other side looked like a four leaf clover.  Anyone recognise these?  

Thank you 

[argon38]

Or toast?

[sonomabarn67]

Those tongs would hold about four/five spears of asparagus on their journey from the serving tray to the plate.

[sonomabarn67]

2875 × 2875

[blazebird]

I think they're for anything you can pick up with them.   Sugar cube, sausages, dead mice, tea bag.

[jasonjburgess]

Thats Great 🙂 

[sonomabarn67]

No, they're not, they are for a specific purpose.

Some very specific uses were put forth, not just "use for anything"! Dead mice? Really?

[maxine*j]

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@blazebird wrote:

I think they're for anything you can pick up with them.   Sugar cube, sausages, dead mice, tea bag.

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😄  😄

I'm never sure of the etiquette on dead mice.  Does one use one's tongs to pick them up by the head, by the body, or by the tail?    

It's multi-purpose tongs for us, thank goodness.  It's hard to imagine the time, which I guess reached in peak in Victorian England, when there were one or more seperate utensils for serving and for eating each variety of fruit, each kind of vegetable, each sort and cut of meat, each type and preparation of fish, every manner of liquid...  Staggering!

[argon38]

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@sonomabarn67 wrote:

No, they're not, they are for a specific purpose.

Actually I concur about that, but any comment that can raise a smile these days surely deserves an upvote. (I still reckon they're for toast).

[maxine*j]

Well, it made me laugh.  I am sitting at a Victorian table with about two dozen pieces of silveware by my plate.  I spy a tiny, dead mouse.  I assume I should not call anyone else's attention to it.  Having selected what I hope are the proper tongs to use for its discreet removal, I now wonder if I will be seen and, if so, about the correct way to grasp the mouse in the tongs.

No.  I'm perfectly fine with this covid-confinement.  Why do you ask?

[argon38]

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@maxine*j wrote:

Well, it made me laugh.  I am sitting at a Victorian table with about two dozen pieces of silveware by my plate.  I spy a tiny, dead mouse.  I assume I should not call anyone else's attention to it.

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Of course, the British know how to handle rodent emergencies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7rdmhMRX7w  

[maxine*j]

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@argon38 wrote:

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Of course, the British know how to handle rodent emergencies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7rdmhMRX7w  

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Most Americans misinterpret that scene.  They think the health inspector is stunned, literally, at the sight of the rodent.  In fact, his behavior is the result of his mortification at not knowing which tongs to use on it.