Hello all, thinking of buying a 1920s teapot (sorry no pics as I don’t own it yet) but it has some nasty staining inside. As I plan to use it just wondering if that is any kind of a bio hazard. the teapot is hallmarked as sterling with British town/date/sponsor marks. Does that mean it is sterling through and through? would there be any kind of lining on the inside in that period that might be any kind of a hazard? It just looks like more that tannin stains. Thanks in advance
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I use a 1928 silver teapot for everyday use and it very quickly builds up a layer of tannin stain. An occasional treatment with denture cleaning tablets seems to remove the stains and reveal the silver again. As far as I am aware teapots of that and earlier eras would not have had any sort of lining or protective coating so a hallmarked teapot will be solid silver.
Phil
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Great, thanks Phil appreciate the info..
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Hi Paul:
Excellent question.
The late Queen was quoted in a Tatler article on the. subject of tannin inside a silver teapot. Some 40 years after the quote — this was back when her husband decided to make the family more accessible and started shooting 16 mm pictures – the subject came up again in the famous Paddington Bear tea party but I am reliably told ended up on the cutting room floor or its modern equivalent.
HM thought tannin build up effectively insulating the tea subsequently poured into the pot and brewed there and was a useful way of preserving the taste of the tea which, if exposed to the bare metal would leach it into the brew and adversely affect its taste.
I have heard the same comment made about silver wine and beer vessels. And my friends in the “stinks” labs tell me it is all true. Bare silver leaches into liquid substances exposed to it and affects the taste.
The Victorians, aware of this problem and having access to catalytic methods of gilt work rather than the lethal lost-mercury methods which accounted for such a rapid turnover of 17th and 18th century silversmiths, vermeil-ed all sorts of things from egg spoons to teapots.
Now, I never had tea with the Queen but like everybody else, we know to whom she issues royal warrants. She shared with her much despised Uncle David. (Edward VIII) a taste for Earl Grey tea from India and something called Irish Breakfast which was nothing to do with Ireland and only incidentally related to breakfast, first thing in the morning.
For reasons that may be as considered as her prohibition of garlic in the royal kitchens, she never bothered with the delicate flavours of the Hannan teas from China.
Pouring and then decanting an old bush Hannan from a tannin-coated faux Lapsang su chong teapot would be like dumping a '45 Ware port into a lead swilled decanter.
But there again, pouring that same Hannan tea into anything but porcelain or some glass and especially silver is going to mess it up.
There are all sort of chemicals which will remove that brown coating, which for purposes of this discussion I am presuming is tannin, from your teapot and all sorts of things you can do to the inside of the teapot after you have done it to inure it from the leach problem, Phil has referred you to one good idea.
One slight problem with older pots, especially those made in the late Georgian, early Vicky period is some makers, wanting to ape the great workshops where metal was used generously, hammered very thin sheets and sometimes the only thing preventing these subsequently embossed or engraved items from leaking is the tannin coat inside.
You and I both have access to very good silversmiths in the GTA, any one of which would look at and tidy up whatever pot you buy and you would be well-advised to let one of them do it. They need the work and I need the silversmiths as I seem to have rather a lot of 18th and 19th century teapots and sets on the shelves.
CRWW
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Thanks Mr. Wilson. Great info as always. George Orwell advocated never using silver pots for tea, only china or earthenware, a notion reiterated by the late Christopher Hitchens half a century later. Maybe they are right, but starting the morning filling a gleaming sterling silver vessel contrasted with an ebony handle seems to me to be living the dream.
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I take it you’re not inviting the ghost of Christopher Hitchens or Eric Blair (aka George Orwell) to your tea party!
Sailed all night, heading into Haro Strait and the home stretch. Have to stay awake as too much commercial traffic coming up from the Strait since everybody now wants to buy fossil fuels off Canada rather than Humpty-Trumpty.
CRWW
Good Lord, that sounds Haro-ing! See what I did there?
And that would be quite a tea party. Though I’m pretty sure Orwell would badger me because I was drinking Chinese Keemun and not Indian tea.
And be careful out there on the briney. Don’t go all Redford in All Is Lost.
A lot of the straits and inlets out here are named for the Spaniards who were the first Europeans. Haro Strait was named for Gonzalo López de Haro a Spanish naval officer who was the first officer on the Princesa expedition of 1790, which explored the waters. Haro was a navigator and explorer who played a significant role in the mapping of the area, leading to the naming of the strait in his honour.
Below it, dividing our country from the US is the Strait of Juan de Fuca named for the Greek navigator Juan de Fuca, aka. Apostolos Valerianos, who claimed in 1592 to be the first European to discover it. English explorer and furrier Charles William Barkley named that strait in his honour in 1787, though the truth of Juan de Fuca’s voyage is debated.They were going to name the University of Victoria after the strait. But somehow Juan de Fuca U. didn’t appeal too widely.
All the west coast names are changing. Georgia Strait between Vancouver Island and Vancouver is changing to Salish Sea. Above it where I was is Haida Gwaii previously the Charlotte Islands. Hecate Strait is still Hecate Strait between Haida Gwaii and the American Alaska panhandle. It’s a shallow dangerous sea I was once shipwrecked on the HMS Norsal in a storm when the Canadian coast guard wouldn’t come out and the US helicoptered from Ketchikan otherwise this conversation wouldn’t be taking place.
That was a strange crew on that ship apart from Tom the owner, was the notorious Martin Chambers who subsequently spent 15 years in US prisons. It was a tricky rescue for him as the US had warrants out for him on another felony rap. Luckily Ketchikan didn’t ask too many questions and flew us all to Vancouver not Juneau.
CRWW
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Pretty rum of the Canadian coast guard not to rescue the crew of a Canadian ship. Seems Gordon Lightfoot missed a golden opportunity for a B-side.
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This forum really lights up when tea is discussed! All sorts of interesting facts emerge.
Here’s another one - silver ions are produced when hot water is used in a silver vessel. These ions are bacteriostatic and have many health benefits. Silver was used pre-antibiotics, and still is by the so-called ‘alternative’ branches of the healing arts, without the damaging consequences.
Saying that someone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth refers not only to wealth, but also to health. So use your silver, don’t just admire it.
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Thanks Bronwen. Always use my silver, as you can see from the photo I posted above of my own personal tea party at 715am central time!