Tooth Powder Box with 1749 Halfpenny
date: label: date box made
content: 1825 - 1850
label: date coin minted
content: 1749
name: label: user
content: Copp Family
notes: label: Description
content: The Copp family of Stonington, Connecticut used this small wooden box of vegetable tooth powder during the early 19th century. Vegetable tooth powder was an abrasive used for dental cleaning during the 18th and 19th century. Vegetable powders were mainly composed of powdered cereals mixed with potassium chloride, and sweetened with saccharine or mint. The vegetable powder was useful for its abrasive effects, but the starch from the cereals were detrimental to overall oral health.
label: Description
content: The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place box made
content: United Kingdom: Grand Bretagne
label: place coin minted
content: United Kingdom: England, London
label: place used
content: United States: Connecticut, Stonington
title: label: Title
content: Wooden tooth-powder Box
topic: label: Subject
content: Dental Products
label: Subject
content: Numismatics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Copp Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of John Brenton Copp
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.006510
label: catalog number
content: 6510
label: accession number
content: 28810
objectType: label: Object Name
content: box
label: Object Name
content: coin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: sycamore (box material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (label material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (label material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (coin material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/4 in x 2 in; 3.175 cm x 5.08 cm