English: Snuffers, 1830-1840 V&A Museum no. 284-1899

Techniques - Close-plated iron or steel, with lead-filled silver

Artist/designer - J. Hobday

Place - Birmingham, England

Dimensions - Length 19.4 cm, Width 6 cm, Depth 4.8 cm

Object Type - Snuffers were first invented to cut off and retain the burned wicks of candles when the wax around them had melted; they were not necessarily used to extinguish the candle's flame. The point at the end was for retrieving the tip of the wick if it fell into molten wax. Snuffers are first recorded in the 15th century. Numerous patents for them are known from the mid-18th century, regularly reappearing with new improvements until 1840, when candles that completely consumed their wicks were first developed, rendering snuffers superfluous.

Materials & Making - These snuffers have been close-plated. Close-plating was the application of a sheet of silver foil to a polished steel surface. The whole surface to be plated is first made smooth, then dipped in sal-ammoniac and then into molten tin, the sal-ammoniac serving as a flux. A thin foil of silver of the correct size is laid on and pressed evenly and smoothly over the surface. A hot soldering iron when passed over the foil serves to melt the tin, which acts as a solder between the iron and the silver, after which the piece is burnished. With close-plated articles, rust tended to appear relatively quickly, but it was none the less commonly used for buckles, knife blades, skewers, spurs, snuffers and other steel articles.

Time -

The mark of a crown between the letters' WR' dates the snuffers to the reign of William IV (1830-1837), though the use of the sprung cutter was superseded in a patent of 1810.