posted 10-20-2005 11:11 AM            

Above are two dippers; one where the bowl is made of silver and one where the bowl is a coconut shell. The silver dipper may be the equivalent of the silver bubble wane of today as it was most likely given to someone who had everything. While it does work well as a dipper, the thought of leaving it hanging by one’s well seems a bit too much. I have also heard that they were used for eggnog or other heavy punches, however the form of the bowl suggests otherwise. The coconut shell dipper has lost its hanging ring and shows sign of use (the tinning on the handle is mostly worn off) while the silver one looks like it mostly hung around on the inside and out of the weather.

The use of silver in a water dipper is not very common and from my limited knowledge such dippers seem to have been acquired more by southerners than northerners. This dipper was made by a northerner, John Cook of New York, but by oral history it was initially sold to a Virginia family and later traveled to Alabama as the family moved.

Dorothy Rainwater and Judy Redfield indicate in their book “Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers” that Cook was a partner in the Theodore Evans firm until Evans retired in1868 and at that time went into business on his own. Deborah Dependahl Waters, in “Elegant Plate Three Centuries of Precious Metal in New York City” indicates that Evans retired in 1869, rather than 1868 but in either case the dipper was made after the Civil War. If the oral history is correct, southerners must have been acquiring luxury items in the years immediately after the civil war.

The construction of this dipper and others I have seen include an extra thickness of silver where the shaft of the handle meets the bowl. I assume this was to provide extra strength and on this dipper the strengthening plate is heart shaped.

posted 02-20-2006 05:07 PM            

There was also an unexpected pleasure at this conference as I met a scholar who had researched the history of water dippers in Alabama. He noted that all country homes had a well and that buckets with fresh water from the well were kept by the back door with the dipper hung beside it. Often a water pitcher and basin was kept by the back door for hand washing. Another participant noted that she knew of similar use in Philadelphia and New York. One of the speakers, I believe it was Ms. Hollan, observed that it was not unusual during early American times to have a punch bowl your front door for visiting male quests. Perhaps some households had two dippers.

Since many water dippers are unmarked I added photos of one marked with the names of silversmiths from Macon, Georgia. The Day and Mauscent dipper is to the right in the first picture and to the left in the second picture. No manufacturer’s marks appears on this dipper.