It's a Crummy Business...

One of the most popular flatware and holloware patterns of all time is Chantilly by Gorham.  The flatware boasts perhaps the most wide ranging variety of sizes and shapes of any pattern still being made.  If you want to imitate the Victorians, this is the pattern to have.  One piece that caught my eye recently was the crumber in this pattern.

In this case, the crumber consisted one half of what you would need to pick up crumbs from the tablecloth.  It looks like a sideways half shovel.  The half missing is a small whisk type broom.  That would be fairly easy to obtain, but what about aesthetics?  Having a waiter or host pull out a mini broom and dust pan might put a damper on eating from a table where things have been stirred up a bit.

Fortunately, a restaurant owner from Baltimore named John Henry Miller invented a better way to remove crumbs from the tablecloth in 1939.  It looks like a pen with a ramp to collect the table crumbs.  You may have seen them before.  They are still sold online. As long as the crumbs are not too large, this device works well.

The other piece for the table along these lines is the waste bowl. These are small holloware bowls usually used in connected with a tea set.

Keeping a table crisp and clean during several courses of a meal is a challenge.  Doing so without your guests taking much notice takes panache.

Holloware for the Politically Incorrect

Recent viewing of the series The Crown has reminded Mr. Bowen of the copious amounts of smoking cigarettes and the like in the 1960s and prior years.  There was alot of it and it was ubiquitous.  The dinner table was no exception.  As Mr. Bowen has pointed out in prior posts, holloware pieces that are often sold as "nut dishes" really were intended as ashtrays.  My favorite example is what looks like a tiny 2 1/2 inch serving platter in the Reed & Barton Windsor pattern is actually an ashtray.

The promotional literature of the 1950s from Reed & Barton has pictures of these ashtrays on the table for each place setting with two cigarettes and a pack of matches.  In addition to ashtrays, there was one other holloware pieces in connection with smoking-the aptly named cigarette urn.  The cigarette urn allowed cigarettes to be stored in an upright position. 

What suggestion does Mr. Bowen have for the owners of these relics of the past?  Why the small individual ashtrays would make great nut dishes.  The cigarette urn makes a great toothpick holder.  Just don't tell anyone what these pieces were originally used for.