Lovely early 18th century sterling scissor form tea tongs Maker IB London

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Lovely early 18th century sterling scissor form tea tongs Maker IB London:
$151.00

Lovely and scarce early 18th century sterling tea tongs, maker IB, London (most likely)

An early examples of tea tongs. Slender, carefully detailed straight arms with delicate, shaped elements ending in oval nips. The shape and style of tea tongs mirrored those of 18th century fireplace tools. The centrally located pivoting rivet works easily; opening and closingthe tongs, bringing all the elements together cleanly with no gaps. The shapedupper arms are angled out to attach on the ring handles. Typical, mild play in the hinge area.

The softly faceted design points to the Queen Anne period influence. Whether this is a holdover stylistically orthe tongs precede that period could be debated.The lion passant sterling mark is inside one nip end. The other nip has the maker IB stamped insidewith a pellet between the letters. Both marks are quite clear - evidence of filing and casting are seen with magnification.

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I do not see any repairs, evenat the very slender areas of the arms. The surface of the silveris mellow with no overpolishing. The marking inside the nips rather than on the ring grips is another indication of an early date. The later George III style tongshave many morecurves and opposing curves in their designelements.

Length: just over 4\" diameter of ring grips: approximately 3/4\". Medium gauge silver. There are tongs of this early form and date in the Irwin Untermyer Collection of English Silver at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, (Revised edition).

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