What-is-it question XVII.

[2209patrick]

This piece is made of Old Sheffield Plate or Fused Plate. It's 22 inches (55.9cm) long.
What was it called?



Pat.
.

[Granmaa]

Does his shell lift off Pat?

Miles
.

[2209patrick]

The hinged "shell" does open.
.

[Granmaa]

May we see inside, or would that make it too easy?
.

[2209patrick]

Sorry Miles, that is the only picture of it in the book.
The fact that it's shaped like a Turtle is a clue.

Pat.
.

[dognose]

Is it a tureen for mock turtle soup?
Trev.
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[2209patrick]

Yes, it'a a Turtle Soup Tureen.

Pat.
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[Granmaa]

I think I've found the same turtle in a different book. Is this the only one perhaps?

Miles


.

[2209patrick]

Sure looks like the same piece. My book, published in 1996, has the turtle tureen at the Weston Park Museum, Sheffield, England.

Here's another turtle soup tureen, but it was designed upside-down.



Pat.
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[Granmaa]

What a brilliantly bizarre piece!

My book was published in 1973 and says it's from the city museum in Sheffield, probably the same one then.

Miles
.

[dognose]

An advertisement from 1795 that reveals the popularity of this dish.



Source: The Morning Post and Fashionable World. Wednesday 26th August 1795

Trev.

[dognose]

Another example, this one, due to the position of the engraved crest, must be a different turtle!



Of similar size to Pat's and Miles's example, it is also Sheffield Plated. This one was noted as being in the posession of Elkington & Co. in 1912.

Trev.

[dognose]

A later, silver example, and this monster is just as big.



This one is 22" (57cm) in length and weighs 210oz 12dwt. Assayed at London in 1912, the main body is the work of J. Parkes & Co. and the inner liner manufactured by Hamilton & Inches of Edinburgh.

It came up for auction in 1977 as part of the 6th Earl of Rosebery's sale at Mentmore, Buckinghamshire.

Trev.