Tongs 1787 - 1790

These silver tongs were crafted by Garret Schanck in the late 18th century. Shaped with a subtle curve and delicate floral engravings, the tongs reveal the silversmith's adept manipulation of the metal. Its creation involved skilled labor, from melting and shaping the silver, to carefully engraving these tiny, but intricate patterns. These tongs speak to a burgeoning culture of refinement, and the rise of global trade that made sugar affordable for a growing middle class. Silver, with its inherent value and luster, became a material of choice, signifying wealth and taste. Such an object prompts us to consider the lives of those who labored to produce both the silver itself, often mined under exploitative conditions, and the sugar it was meant to serve. By considering the full scope of the object’s production, we can appreciate how even a simple tool embodies complex relationships of labor, materials, and consumption.