enamleled dinner wear

[gabi]

I bought some enameled dinner wear because i see everyone else with it. I know that it is super durable but what i don't know is if it really is period correct. Also, where can a person find silver wear that looks more like the old stuff and less like the stuff we use at home(yes, that is what i am running with).

 

I'm purty sure "enamel" cookware and tableware, weren't available until the Civil War, and even then the "speckled" enamel pots, plates, and etc. weren't available until the late-1860's or mid-1870's.

I'd suggest "tin ware" and "copper kettles" for the Fur Trade era. I use plain old tin "pie plates" in my camp.

Horn or wooden spoons would be PC for the Fur Trade,.... I'm not sure about "forks" be'n pre-1840, I do know they were available dur'n the Civil War.

YMHS
rollingb

 

[PaulN/KS]

The enamelware is one of those things that are "accepted" but not correct to the period.there are tinsmiths on the web as well as tinware available at places like CrazyCrow traders.We use old tin pieplates to eat off of and castiron to cook with.You can buy passable tin(not aluminum) pie plates at Wallyworld or look at the thrift shops.take a magnet to check.Some folks at rondys have stuff to sell too.Good luck and have fun.Best regards,Paul

 

You might find this interest'n,.....

Another transformation in manners signaled the seemingly trivial difference between a two-pronged and a three-pronged fork. Before 1830, virtually all New Englanders were still eating with their knives in the characteristic American fashion. That is, they used their forks--the traditional two-pronged variety--only to hold meat for cutting, and brought food to their mouths with their knives. This was not a custom that pleased English commentators. Visiting in 1828, Margaret Hall complained that "it goes rather against one's feelings to see a prettily dressed, nice-looking young woman ladling rice pudding into her mouth with the point of a great knife," or, even worse, to see a girl "feeding an infant of 17 months in the same way." Gradually such criticism and the continued drawing power of upper-class English ways were beginning to have an effect.

The 1830s found a number of genteel American families adopting the European style, in which the fork was used for conveying food and the knife only for cutting. To accomplish this they needed not only to abandon their traditional use of the knife but to reject the customary two-pronged fork as well. Its widely separated tines made an impractical implement for gracious dining; the chosen utensil for those who wished to eat fashionably became the three- or four-pronged fork, whose additional tines made it far easier to use in the new style.

I think the common use of a fork wouldn't be seen in a fur trappers camp, as those fellas were "heading west" at the time the current European-style of "eat'n" was just starting to take place in eastern America.

YMHS
rollingb

 

Enamleware came out in 1794, but wasn't widely used until around the Civil War. I don't know what color it was though. Tin would be the way to go as far as plates, or a simple wooden bowl.

Two tined forks were used as early as the 1700's, if not earlier. I believe the handles were of bone. These forks weren't used for eating off of, but were used for pushing the food up onto the knife, and eaten from it. The knives were in the shape of the butter knife. Be careful not to eat from the sharp side of the knife though. Crazy Crow and other places have these.

Silver and pewter spoons were in use as well.

Check out:
www.nps.gov/fous/tradegoods.html
www.csa-dixie.com/villagetinsmith/b.htm

They have several items that might interest you.

Pare-

 

[76monza]

gabi,

They are correct on the enamelware time frame. They both made a good point about the tin pie plates. I too use those for plates. Like Paul I prowl the salvation army and goodwill stores looking for all kinds of cheap camp gear. and trade blanket stuff. As far as the silver goes, I usually buy the old walnut wood handle knives and 3 tine forks from antique shops and flea markets. Usually pay around 2 to 3 dollars apiece, but if there's alot of them I'll talk 'em down. I can bag and sell a set for $10 to $15 depending on the quality and material used to make it. Those utentials don't have a matching spoon in the sets, so I usually look for a very plain nickel silver or plated spoon to use

Smokeydays