posted 11-15-2005 10:20 AM            

The Stilton cheese scoop shown by Scott is a good example of an object whose use is not well known. Cheese scoop (Another Whatzit -contiued (2))

Most of the dealers I have talked to indicate that cheese scoops are hard to sell and it may be the use of the word scoop is misleading. In use one is not really scooping cheese out as much as turning segments of the cheese to crumble or break it up. Perhaps a new name would help sales.

Another item that is often thought to be something else is a julep strainer.

It is my understanding that strainers of this type, usually with a star in the handle, were for straining mint juleps. I can say that they really do work and fit nicely on the top of a julep cup. I have noticed that after the first julep, straining mint leaves and fragments of mint leaves out of the mixture does not seem as important.

This strainer is marked J. M. Shaw & CO. When I brought it I thought that the Shaw was John Shaw from St. Louis, however I can find no record of this John Shaw's middle name or his use of a middle initial in any of his marks.

The strainer does feel like coin silver rather than plate.

Any information about the J.M. Shaw, this pattern, or why julep strainers have a star in the handle would be appreciated.

posted 11-15-2005 11:16 PM            

Salmoned, be so good as to explain to those present how to do a specific gravity test and what the density of different pieces will tell you.

Thanks much.

posted 11-15-2005 11:23 PM            

Quite of number of what we call today mint julep cups actually started out as prizes given out at state fairs and the like. Below is one by Mead of St. Louis who sold this one to the Ray County Agricultural Society. Ray County is in western Missouri. I like to think of these as mint julep cups, but actually they could have been used for anything liquid. As Martha has taught us they also make lovely flower vases.

posted 11-16-2005 01:53 PM            

Pt - 21.45 g/cc
Au - 19.3 g/cc
Pb - 11.34 g/cc
Ag - 10.49 g/cc
Sterling - 10.37 g/cc
Coin Ag - 10.34 g/cc
Cu - 8.96 g/cc
Ni - 8.91 g/cc
Zn - 7.14 g/cc

posted 11-16-2005 02:04 PM            

Couldn't one say that what you show above is a presentation julep cup? By engraving a dedication and ceremoniously presenting an object to someone, does that take away what the object in fact is?

I certainly don't know anything about the development of the julep cup's form, or the development of the mint julep as a beverage, but the fact remains that "mint julep cup" describes a cup of that form.

Lately I've immersed myself almost exclusively in the study of imperial Russian silver, and in those circles, traditional vessels for drink, such as the kovsh or charka, were often made as presentation pieces. That they were not intended for their traditional use does not disqualify them as kovshi or charki.

posted 11-16-2005 11:58 PM            

I think the term “presentation julep cup” would be appropriate. One book I have about mint juleps is “The Mint Julep” by Richard Barksdale Harwell with a forward by George Garrett. The word “julep” is traced back to the word “julab” in Arabic, “gul-ab” in Persian and in both instances meaning rose-water. By the 1400s in England, julep indicated syrup made only of water and sugar.

Mr. Harwell notes that a "plainer julep" is mentioned in “The American Museum of 1787” as a drought with which to start the day and which contained rum, water and sugar. Mr. Harwell also notes that the first reference to the use of mint as an ingredient of a julep was in a book published in 1803 by John Davis. This book “Travels of Four Years and a Half the United States of America” was published in London and is a record of Mr. Davis’s time as a tutor on a plantation in Virginia. In this book he observed that a julep was a dram of spirituous liquor that has mint in it and that was taken by Virginians in the morning.

What is left out of these early recipes is the shaved or crushed ice and it is not clear to me when this addition became such an integral part of the drink. It is this addition that really requires the use of a silver cup. General Simon Bolivar Buckner’s description is best as he said with the proper manipulation “the ingredients are circulated and blended until nature....encrusts the whole in a glistening coat of white frost.”