Cheeseball Holder
date: label: date made
content: 1880s
label: date patented
content: 1891-06-02
label: patent date
content: 1891-06-02
notes: label: Description
content: Hollow-handled cheese ball holder or server with three adjustable clamping arms enclosing a small, slightly concave circular tray on a dome base edged in roses and ruffled leaves. The arms fit through three holes in the neck below tray and are attached to a screw knob mechanism on the underside that opens and closes them. Screw knob is struck incuse "QUADRUPLE PLATE" in serif letters above a circular crossed-hammers mark for "WILCOX SILVER PLATE C\o." with crossed raising hammers at center, the number "40" and "PATENTED" below.
label: Description
content: Maker is Wilcox Silver Plate Co. of Meriden, CT. The firm was founded as Wilcox Britannia Co. in 1865, and changed its name to Wilcox Silver Plate Co. in 1867. It was one of the founding members of International Silver Co. in 1898; Insilco continued to use the Wilcox name and trademark until circa 1961 when the line was consolidated with E. G. Webster & Son (purchased by Insilco in 1928) into Webster-Wilcox.
label: Description
content: Seth W. Babbitt of Meriden, CT, assignor to the Wilcox Plate Co. received U.S. Patent No. 453,571 on June 2, 1891 for "improvements in table articles designed to receive and securely hold cheeses of the kind particularly known as Edam and Pine-Apple".
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place used
content: United States: Kansas, Topeka
label: place made
content: United States: Connecticut, Meriden
label: used
content: United States: Kansas, Topeka
topic: label: Subject
content: New Year's Day
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Food
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Barbara W. Jarrell
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0140.1
label: accession number
content: 1987.0140
label: catalog number
content: 1987.140.1
objectType: label: Object Name
content: holder, cheese ball
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silver plate (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: electroplate (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 8 1/4 in x 4 7/8 in; 12.7 cm x 20.955 cm x 12.3825 cm