It's hard to realize as we sip our mugs of Lipton's English Breakfast or Twining's Earl Grey or Celestial Seasons' Sleepytime just how expensive and valuable a commodity tea once was. Tea leaves were so precious, in fact, that they were kept under lock and key in specially constructed boxes called caddies, made of a great variety of materials including fine woods, lacquerware, porcelain, tortoiseshell, silver and Sheffield plate, pewter, tin, ivory, tole and papier mache, some of them exquisitely decorated. These are avidly collected, some of them selling for thousands of dollars.
Tea first came to England from China in the middle of the 17th century (it had already been exported to Holland and Portugal about 50 years earlier), and with it came Chinese storage containers. The earliest examples were round, square or flat-sided bottle-shaped jars made of pottery or porcelain and fitted with china lids - usually blue and white - that also served to measure their contents.
The term "tea caddy" emerged a century later, evolving from the Malay-Chinese word "kati" or "catty," the Chinese pound measure that was equal to 1 1/3 pounds. It wasn't long before English potteries were producing caddies of their own. Soon, box-shaped caddies took over from jars, and they were being made in a number of other materials, particularly any number of fine woods - mahogany, satinwood, rosewood, yew, apple wood and burled walnut were favorites in the Georgian period - as well as the other materials mentioned above.
They also became more elaborate, with such adornments as ornamental locks, ivory, ebony or silver knobs, brass mountings and delicate inlays and marquetry work, or veneered in straw work and sadeli mosaic. They might rest on claw and ball or bun feet, reflecting elements of the furniture design of the period.
In terms of shape, wooden (usually mahogany) tea caddies were made in box form from about 1725 on, shaped like small chests and containing three separate removable metal storage spaces for black and green teas and a central glass sugar bowl. They ranged from the simple to the rococo, some of them having a secret space just above the base, revealed by sliding one side of the box. As the century progressed, taxes were reduced and more people began drinking tea at home. Noted cabinetmakers like George Hepplewhite and Thomas Chippendale began to include tea chest and tea caddy designs in their catalogs, with Chippendale's examples in Louis XV style boasting claw and ball feet and exquisite finishes.
By the end of the 1700s, pine, oak and mahogany caddies were veneered in different woods, and decorations included painted and inlaid elements, papier mache, elaborate chinoiserie, tortoiseshell and ivory, as well as fine marquery work. The range of shapes broadened to include oval, round, octagonal, boat-shaped, serpentine, rectangular, square and even fruit and sarcophagus forms. A particular favorite of collectors are the Tunbridge Ware boxes, with elaborate triangular and cube mosaic pattern parquetry inlays.
Here are some representative high-end tea caddy prices given in recent value guides:
- George III Silver caddy by Hester Bateman, dome lid, bright cut, circa 1786: $5,288.
- Tortoiseshell veneer sarcophagus form caddy, with brass lion handles, paw feet: $4,995.
- Eight-sided silver caddy with sliding lid, engraved arms, FA mark, London, 1714: $3,900.
- Hexagonal quill work caddy, inlaid mahogany frames, blue and gilt quill work panels covered with glass, two lidded compartments, 1804: $2,750.
- Black lacquer and gilt example, fitted interior, Chinese export, 19th century: $1,175.
- George III satinwood and mahogany caddy, oval, with lead-lined interior, circa 1785: $880.
- William IV rosewood caddy with mother-of-pearl inlay, sarcophagus form, bun feet: $765.
- William IV Pollard oak caddy with pewter, mother-of-pearl inlay, sarcophagus form: $735.
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