bi·jou·te·rie
bēˈZHo͞odərē noun - jewelry or trinkets
This article from 1858 identifies some of the original material sources for the various seed crafts of the 19th century. (Somehow that became interesting to me yesterday and I'm going with it.) The gentleman who wrote the article has given a tidy overview.
I had a good time looking up information and photos of the various nuts and seeds, enjoying their wide variety of colors, shapes and uses. The art of using these seeds and nuts is still with us. It is annoyingly difficult to find any in collections that are from the mid-19th century however. The Christie's auction pomander is as close as I got to probable authenticity. Ebay offered many examples, new and old-ish.
I had a good time looking up information and photos of the various nuts and seeds, enjoying their wide variety of colors, shapes and uses. The art of using these seeds and nuts is still with us. It is annoyingly difficult to find any in collections that are from the mid-19th century however. The Christie's auction pomander is as close as I got to probable authenticity. Ebay offered many examples, new and old-ish.
Anyone who passes through the bazaars and arcades, or notices the shop-windows of the metropolis, cannot but have been struck with the many new and ornamental applications of nuts and seeds which have come into use of late years, and which are greatly on the increase There is yet, however, a very wide field open in the extensive productions of nature for profitable industry.
The field is an exhaustless one, and many well-known ornamental nuts and seeds of India and South America have not yet made their appearance in this country. The most common applications of seeds and nuts at present are the betl nut, Job's tears, Mimosa seeds, the seeds of the wild liquorice, the Nicker seeds or Bonduc nuts, vegetable ivory, and coquilla nuts, &c.
The many applications of cameo and pearl shells to ornamental use, for studs, sleeve-links, breast-pins, &c, for pretty articles of bijouterie, or use for the boudoir and drawing room table, and the large sale for such fancy articles, shows that a rich mine for the manufacturer and trader has been opened up.
The fish-scale ornaments, from the hard transparent scales of the callipeva (some sort of a mullet with big scales) and other fish, first brought under notice by Chief-Justice Temple, in the columns of the Society's Journal, have now become a recognized trade, and brooches, bracelets, tiaras, &c, made of them, are largely vended in the galleries of the Crystal Palace.
The turner, again, has profited largely by the extensive introduction of the vegetable ivory and coquilla nuts, which are applied to a great variety of useful and ornamental purposes.
In endeavouring to add to my private collection of industrial products the various applications which from time to time come before the public, I have been particularly struck with the new uses of nuts, seeds, dec, and as these form, perhaps, one of the most compact, ornamental, and popularly interesting sections of a museum, possibly a few collected notes respecting them may be useful.
In the great extension of this branch of trade we have one of the evidences of the utility of public exhibitions and economic or trade museums, as opening up suggestions and pointing out new materials to work upon. Our continental neighbours seem to be more ready and ingenious than ourselves in the application of nuts, seeds, and such small articles, to the purposes of decoration, and although, from their very cheapness, many of these ornaments are despised by our belles, yet none can deny their interest and beauty, and the taste in which they are worked up.
The fish-scale ornaments, from the hard transparent scales of the callipeva (some sort of a mullet with big scales) and other fish, first brought under notice by Chief-Justice Temple, in the columns of the Society's Journal, have now become a recognized trade, and brooches, bracelets, tiaras, &c, made of them, are largely vended in the galleries of the Crystal Palace.
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Christie's: A carved and pierced coquilla nut pomander,
19th century, of ovoid form, screw-thread opening, profusely
pierced and carved with scrolling foliage -- 2 5/8in. (6.7cm.) high;
and a late George III coquilla nut pocket nutmeg grater,modeled as an acorn -- 3in. (7.7cm.) long (2) |
In endeavouring to add to my private collection of industrial products the various applications which from time to time come before the public, I have been particularly struck with the new uses of nuts, seeds, dec, and as these form, perhaps, one of the most compact, ornamental, and popularly interesting sections of a museum, possibly a few collected notes respecting them may be useful.
In the great extension of this branch of trade we have one of the evidences of the utility of public exhibitions and economic or trade museums, as opening up suggestions and pointing out new materials to work upon. Our continental neighbours seem to be more ready and ingenious than ourselves in the application of nuts, seeds, and such small articles, to the purposes of decoration, and although, from their very cheapness, many of these ornaments are despised by our belles, yet none can deny their interest and beauty, and the taste in which they are worked up.
The field is an exhaustless one, and many well-known ornamental nuts and seeds of India and South America have not yet made their appearance in this country. The most common applications of seeds and nuts at present are the betl nut, Job's tears, Mimosa seeds, the seeds of the wild liquorice, the Nicker seeds or Bonduc nuts, vegetable ivory, and coquilla nuts, &c.
The betel nut, the fruit of the Areca Catechu palm, loses with us its famous Eastern
reputation as the popular narcotic masticatory.
There the nut is sliced and used with pan, or the leaf of the betel pepper (Chavica Beth) and chunam, or shell-lime. The lime gives a deep orange or red colour to the colouring matter of the nut, and thus dyes the lips and tongue in the peculiar manner so common among the natives of India. All classes, male and female, chew it; and they allege that it strengthens the stomach, sweetens the breath, and preserves the teeth.
In this country betel nut charcoal is often vended now by chemists as a tooth powder, but the imports of the nut being small, I very much question whether the greater part of that geld is really the produce of the betel nut. But it is the ornamental application of the nut with which I have here to deal.
The fruit (a nut) is yellow, oval, the size of an egg, inclosing an oily kernel, like a nutmeg, conical, rounded, pointed, and marked with white and reddish veins. When the outer coat is removed, these veins, or markings, have a very ornamental appearance. The nuts are either turned of a round shape, like beads, with striated lines, or flat, with ridges, like the petals of a flower, set with steel centre ornaments, and small intervening beads of the nut, and thus strung they form bracelets. In the Kew Museum there is a large walking-stick made of sliced betel nuts, fixed on a wire or centre. (Couldn't find it, but they do have a walking stick collection in their Economic Botany department.)
A still more ornamental seed used for bracelets and rosaries, is the spherical corrugated seed of the Elaeocarpus ganitrus, which are generally admired. In India they are known as Brahmin's beads, and when capped with silver they make very pretty ornaments.
Another round black seed, of a larger size is the kernel of the fruit of the Sapindus saponaria (Linn.), or S. marginatut (Vahl), and other species, which is much used now for rosaries, necklaces, bracelets, and other ornaments.
There the nut is sliced and used with pan, or the leaf of the betel pepper (Chavica Beth) and chunam, or shell-lime. The lime gives a deep orange or red colour to the colouring matter of the nut, and thus dyes the lips and tongue in the peculiar manner so common among the natives of India. All classes, male and female, chew it; and they allege that it strengthens the stomach, sweetens the breath, and preserves the teeth.
The fruit (a nut) is yellow, oval, the size of an egg, inclosing an oily kernel, like a nutmeg, conical, rounded, pointed, and marked with white and reddish veins. When the outer coat is removed, these veins, or markings, have a very ornamental appearance. The nuts are either turned of a round shape, like beads, with striated lines, or flat, with ridges, like the petals of a flower, set with steel centre ornaments, and small intervening beads of the nut, and thus strung they form bracelets. In the Kew Museum there is a large walking-stick made of sliced betel nuts, fixed on a wire or centre. (Couldn't find it, but they do have a walking stick collection in their Economic Botany department.)
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| Elaeocarpus ganitrus |
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| Canna indica
The small round black seed of the Indian shot (Canna indica) are often threaded as beads. But there is another use for them, and that is as a coffee substitute.
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Another round black seed, of a larger size is the kernel of the fruit of the Sapindus saponaria (Linn.), or S. marginatut (Vahl), and other species, which is much used now for rosaries, necklaces, bracelets, and other ornaments.
It is popularly known as the soap berry, for the aril which surrounds the seeds is used as soap in South America and India.
(aril - an extra seed-covering, typically colored and hairy or fleshy, e.g., the red fleshy cup around a yew seed.)
The capsules or seed vessels are very acrid; they lather freely in water, and will cleanse more linen than sixty times their weight of soap; but in time, it is said, they corrode or burn the linen. This, however, requires confirmation.
The legumes of Acacia concinna (Mimosa taponaria, Roxburgh), form a considerable article of commerce in India. Mimosa abstergent fetches in the bazaars there about 1d. a pound, and if powdered 2d. a pound. (Abstergent means it contains a detergent!)
The Saponaceous principle, "Saponine," exists in many other seeds and roots, &c, as in the root of Vacearia vulgaris, Agrostemma oithago, Anigallis arventis, Oypsophila struthium (the Egyptian soap root), various species of Dianthus and Lychnis, in the bark of Quillaia saponaria and Silene inflata.
The soap nuts are exceedingly hard and tough, and take a fine polish. The kernels of the small black nuts of S. saponaria are eaten in the West Indies, and deemed as palatable as the hazel nut or almond.
Dr. Sherwood mentions that the seeds of S. marginatum pounded with water, often put an end to the epileptic paroxysms, a small quantity being put into the patient's mouth.
The red seeds of the Adenanthera pavonina, a tree of the Mimosa tribe, often called red sandal wood in India, are much used for ornaments, weighing almost uniformly four grains; they are very generally employed by jewellers in the East as weights, ...
...so are the beautiful seeds of the wild liquorice (the Abrus precatorius), which are small bright red peas with a black spot. In India they are called goonch; very pretty rosaries, bracelets, and other trinkets are made of them.
The large seeds of the necklace tree of the West Indies (Ormosia coccinea, and dasycarpa), of a brilliant red hue, with a black spot at one end, are now beginning to be used for sleeve-links and shirt studs.
The Barricari seeds of Demerara (Erythrina corallodendron), a member of the kidney bean group, are also an ornamental seed.
(Print to the right is from Descourtilz, M.E., Flore médicale des Antilles, vol. 4: t. 298 (1827))
The nuts of Putranjiva Roxburghii, eailed in Hindostan Jeeapootra, are strung by the natives round the necks of their children as an amulet to keep them in health.
The grey bead-like seed known under the popular name of Job's Tears, are the stony fruit of a graminaceous plant (Coix lachryma).
They are chiefly used in Catholic countries as beads for rosaries, but in times of scarcity they have served as food. They are also valued for some supposed medicinal qualities.
The large, bony, shining, grey, nearly globose seeds (Guilandina Bonduc, and G. Bonducella), called Nicker beans or Bonduc nuts (or Nicker Nuts according to Wikipedia :-), are used for bracelets and rosaries, and are very ornamental when set.
They are very bitter, and have some medicinal properties, being considered emetic, and are used as a remedy for dropsy. The kernels of O. Bonducella are supposed by the native practitioners of India to possess powerful tonic virtues, and are esteemed as a febrifuge.
Cherry stones, and other fruit kernels, are often seen carved and highly ornamented, made into rosaries, &c, evidencing the patience and skill of the workman who has laboured on them.
The small brown seeds, something like apple pips, so commonly used, when strung thickly together, for bracelets, work-bags, nets for the hair, and other ornamental work, are the produce of Desmanthus virgatus. They are frequently dyed black for effect.
Cloves, threaded and interspersed with beads, are also used for bracelets, and are made into a variety of ornamental work, baskets, boxes, etc.
The vegetable ivory nut, sometimes called Corozo, the fruit of a South American palm, the
Phyteltphat macrocarpa, Ruiz and Pav., is now largely imported, sometimes to the extent of 150 tons a year, and they have been sold at the brokers' sales at 8s. or 10s. a thousand, but they fetch now about 40s. a thousand.
They come chiefly from the Magdalena river. The applications of the nut under the hands of the turner are most varied. Umbrella knobs, the reels of spindles, pincushions, children's rings, small humming tops, thimbles, cases, and a variety of toys and little knick-knacks being made from it. The interior or albumen of the kernel is as white and almost as hard as ivory, and is in great demand for turning. It is of the same nature, though not of the same consistence, as the flour of the cereal grains, the aromatic substance of the nutmeg, and the pulp of the cocoa nut, which in other palms becomes more hardened. That of the date palm is quite as hard, if not harder, but it is neither large enough nor white enough to be of use to the turner.
The Coquilla nut is the popular and commercial name for the fruit of the Attalea funifera palm of Martius.
Being excessively hard, beautifully mottled with dark and light brown, and capable of taking a very high polish, they are extensively used by turners for making the handles of bell-pulls, napkin-rings, the knobs of walking sticks and umbrellas, humming-tops, rosary cases, and such like.
Several hundred thousand of these nuts are imported annually from Brazil, and sold at about 30s. the mille. The principal use of these nuts now is for waistcoat buttons, which are largely used at Birmingham, and they are coloured different tints to suit different cloths.
The palm which bears these nuts also furnishes the strong piassam fibre of commerce, so largely used in making brushes and street-sweeping machines. The seeds of many of these palms are eaten by the natives of the countries in which they grow.
The largest nuts are chosen for this purpose, and are often seen highly polished, and of a fine black colour. The shells will also make good lamp-black, and, reduced to charcoal and pulverized, an excellent dentifrice. They are manufactured into beads for rosaries. The common ladle used over a great part of India and in the Brazils is formed of part of the shell, to which a long wooden handle is fixed. Particular virtues have been attributed to cups made of the shell of the cocoa-nut. They have been supposed to give an anti-apoplectic quality to intoxicating liquors.
"The double coco-nut (Lodoicea techillarium) of Labillardiere, was once held in great repute for all sorts of fanciful properties, from the ignorance which prevailed respecting its origin.
The great men of the East formed of the shell precious vessels, cutting off a transverse slice, which constituted the lid, and in this they put their tobacco, betel lime, and whatever else they masticated, believing that these articles could never be contaminated by anything noxious.
Water kept in it was considered to preserve those who drank of it from every complaint. The discovery of the Seychillio (Seychelle) Islands, and the knowledge thence derived that these nuts grew upon trees, as other coco-nuts, soon reduced their value, and now probably, by the East Indians as by the Europeans, they are only sought as a matter of curiosity, or for domestic purposes.
Of the nut are made vessels of different forms and uses. When preserved whole, and perforated in one or two places, the shell serves to carry water, and two of them are suspended from opposite ends of a stick.
Some of these nuts hold six or eight pints. If divided into two between the lobes, each portion serves, according to its size and shape, for plates and dishes, or drinking-cups, these being valuable from their great strength and durability, so that this kind of utensil, in the Seychillio Islands, bears the name of vaiselli de l'Lille Praslin.
Amongst other articles, shaving-dishes, black, beautifully polished, carved, and set in silver, are made from them."—Seeman's Palms.
The stony seeds of the Tucuma palm (Astrocaryum Tucuma, Mart.), are in Brazil turned into rings, "birros" or knitting pins, and other small articles for which bones are employed. The seeds are so hard that it is almost impossible to break them, except by a powerful blow with a large hammer.
The kernel (albumen) is also very hard, nearly approaching to vegetable ivory. The kernel of the fruit of the doom palm is turned into beads for rosaries.
Several kinds of hard brown beans have lately been brought into use for making bracelets and other ornaments. Their plainness and monotony is varied by gilt or steel studs and settings, and small beads intermingled with ornamental pendants.
The large horse-eye bean, the seed of a species of Mucuna, is really ornamental, and curious when mounted for bracelets.
(Often called Hamburger Bean now. :-)
The large brown sword beans of Entada Gigalobium and E. Pursaetha are made into spoons, small coin cases, scent bottles, etc. They are used by the natives of India, under the name of "Gel," with Soap berries for washing their hair.
The seeds of the pod of the Carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua), are said to be the original carat weights of the jewelers. It is strange that these seeds, and those of the tamarind, date, have not been applied to some economic use with us.
The locust pods or carob beans, as they are termed, have come largely into use as a cattle food in this country, although they were first introduced at a high price in the chemists' shops as an improver of the voice. Vocalists were assured that like the sweets recommended in the extempore doggerel of a well-known and popular itinerant vendor, they would—
In the Portuguese settlement of Ambrez, Africa, the seeds of the custard apple are strung upon thread as necklaces,
and in the Kew Museum are rosaries made of olive seeds and stones.
Immature oranges, turned and polished, make very pretty rosaries, having a pleasant odour, and they are also sold in chemist's shops as "issue peas." (I had to look up "issue peas". They are small pea shaped objects placed in wounds to keep them draining freely.)
Walnut shells are frequently mounted with hinges and used as the ornamental cases for miniature articles, such as scissors, thimbles, &c, and the Limerick gloves are packed in them, while jewels and other presents are often disguised in this rough case as an agreeable surprise.
Calabashes, the hard rind or covering of the fruit of the Crescentia cujete, are used for all kinds of domestic utensils in Africa and the West Indies.
Cups and saucers, baskets and bowls, pepper and salt dishes, &c., of various sizes, plain or carved and ornamented, take the place of crockery, and are not so easily broken or destroyed.
I have them in my collection in all sizes and styles. Many will stand the fire for cooking as well as an iron pot.
(To the left: Displays at Mary and Marvin Johnson's Gourd Museum, Kennebec, North Carolina, 1946)
Under the name of bottle-gourds the hard and rough rind of the fruit of the Lagenaria vulgaris, cleared of the pulp and seeds, is used like the calabash for ready-made bowls and vessels for holding water.
Snuff-boxes, again, are made by the Africans of Oncoba spinosa in Natal and Gaboon.
Having touched upon their purely ornamental applications, I may have a few words to say in a future number upon the edible uses of some of the ordinary nuts and seeds, and others that have been less generally utilized.
8 Winchester-street, Pimlico, Sept. 28.
Links:
(aril - an extra seed-covering, typically colored and hairy or fleshy, e.g., the red fleshy cup around a yew seed.)
The capsules or seed vessels are very acrid; they lather freely in water, and will cleanse more linen than sixty times their weight of soap; but in time, it is said, they corrode or burn the linen. This, however, requires confirmation.
The legumes of Acacia concinna (Mimosa taponaria, Roxburgh), form a considerable article of commerce in India. Mimosa abstergent fetches in the bazaars there about 1d. a pound, and if powdered 2d. a pound. (Abstergent means it contains a detergent!)
The Saponaceous principle, "Saponine," exists in many other seeds and roots, &c, as in the root of Vacearia vulgaris, Agrostemma oithago, Anigallis arventis, Oypsophila struthium (the Egyptian soap root), various species of Dianthus and Lychnis, in the bark of Quillaia saponaria and Silene inflata.
The soap nuts are exceedingly hard and tough, and take a fine polish. The kernels of the small black nuts of S. saponaria are eaten in the West Indies, and deemed as palatable as the hazel nut or almond.
Dr. Sherwood mentions that the seeds of S. marginatum pounded with water, often put an end to the epileptic paroxysms, a small quantity being put into the patient's mouth.
(circassian beads, red sandalwood tree, coralwood,
sandalwood tree, circassian bean, red sandalwood,
Barricarri seeds, Circassian seeds, Red Sandal wood tree)
sandalwood tree, circassian bean, red sandalwood,
Barricarri seeds, Circassian seeds, Red Sandal wood tree)
The red seeds of the Adenanthera pavonina, a tree of the Mimosa tribe, often called red sandal wood in India, are much used for ornaments, weighing almost uniformly four grains; they are very generally employed by jewellers in the East as weights, ...
...so are the beautiful seeds of the wild liquorice (the Abrus precatorius), which are small bright red peas with a black spot. In India they are called goonch; very pretty rosaries, bracelets, and other trinkets are made of them.
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| Abrus precatorius |
The large seeds of the necklace tree of the West Indies (Ormosia coccinea, and dasycarpa), of a brilliant red hue, with a black spot at one end, are now beginning to be used for sleeve-links and shirt studs.
The Barricari seeds of Demerara (Erythrina corallodendron), a member of the kidney bean group, are also an ornamental seed.
(Print to the right is from Descourtilz, M.E., Flore médicale des Antilles, vol. 4: t. 298 (1827))
The nuts of Putranjiva Roxburghii, eailed in Hindostan Jeeapootra, are strung by the natives round the necks of their children as an amulet to keep them in health.
The grey bead-like seed known under the popular name of Job's Tears, are the stony fruit of a graminaceous plant (Coix lachryma).
They are chiefly used in Catholic countries as beads for rosaries, but in times of scarcity they have served as food. They are also valued for some supposed medicinal qualities.
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| Guilandina Bonduc |
They are very bitter, and have some medicinal properties, being considered emetic, and are used as a remedy for dropsy. The kernels of O. Bonducella are supposed by the native practitioners of India to possess powerful tonic virtues, and are esteemed as a febrifuge.
Cherry stones, and other fruit kernels, are often seen carved and highly ornamented, made into rosaries, &c, evidencing the patience and skill of the workman who has laboured on them.
The small brown seeds, something like apple pips, so commonly used, when strung thickly together, for bracelets, work-bags, nets for the hair, and other ornamental work, are the produce of Desmanthus virgatus. They are frequently dyed black for effect.
Cloves, threaded and interspersed with beads, are also used for bracelets, and are made into a variety of ornamental work, baskets, boxes, etc.
The vegetable ivory nut, sometimes called Corozo, the fruit of a South American palm, the
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| Woodcraft Supply even has them! |
They come chiefly from the Magdalena river. The applications of the nut under the hands of the turner are most varied. Umbrella knobs, the reels of spindles, pincushions, children's rings, small humming tops, thimbles, cases, and a variety of toys and little knick-knacks being made from it. The interior or albumen of the kernel is as white and almost as hard as ivory, and is in great demand for turning. It is of the same nature, though not of the same consistence, as the flour of the cereal grains, the aromatic substance of the nutmeg, and the pulp of the cocoa nut, which in other palms becomes more hardened. That of the date palm is quite as hard, if not harder, but it is neither large enough nor white enough to be of use to the turner.
The Coquilla nut is the popular and commercial name for the fruit of the Attalea funifera palm of Martius.
Being excessively hard, beautifully mottled with dark and light brown, and capable of taking a very high polish, they are extensively used by turners for making the handles of bell-pulls, napkin-rings, the knobs of walking sticks and umbrellas, humming-tops, rosary cases, and such like.Several hundred thousand of these nuts are imported annually from Brazil, and sold at about 30s. the mille. The principal use of these nuts now is for waistcoat buttons, which are largely used at Birmingham, and they are coloured different tints to suit different cloths.
The palm which bears these nuts also furnishes the strong piassam fibre of commerce, so largely used in making brushes and street-sweeping machines. The seeds of many of these palms are eaten by the natives of the countries in which they grow.
Several hundred thousand of these nuts are imported annually from Brazil, and sold at about 30s. the mille. The principal use of these nuts now is for waistcoat buttons, which are largely used at Birmingham, and they are coloured different tints to suit different cloths. The palm which bears these nuts also furnishes the strong piassam fibre of commerce, so largely used in making brushes and street-sweeping machines. The seeds of many of these palms are eaten by the natives of the countries in which they grow.
The seeds of the shreetaly or talipot palm (Corypha umbraeulifera) are a species of vegetable ivory, capable of being turned into marbles or beads, and cut into button moulds, draughtmen, &c.
They could be obtained in large quantities in Canara and other parts of India, but have not been introduced into England.
A kind of flour is obtained from the nut.
Another pretty palm nut is that of the Macaw (Acrocomia sclerocarpa, Mart).
It is often turned and carved into small ornaments abroad. I have finger rings, sailors' rings for their neck ties, and other small articles made from them.
On removing the outer coat, the nut has a beautiful black hue, which takes a fine polish, but they arc too small to be commercially useful.
The uses of the coco-nut shells, from their familiarity, are now less appreciated. But we still see them carved and polished on the exterior and made into baskets and spoons, or mounted in silver as drinking goblets. They are also used for cups, elegantly carved sugar basins, lamps, skimmers, and by the Polynesians, as well as other natives, entire, for containing their water, having two holes in the summit.
The seeds of the shreetaly or talipot palm (Corypha umbraeulifera) are a species of vegetable ivory, capable of being turned into marbles or beads, and cut into button moulds, draughtmen, &c.
They could be obtained in large quantities in Canara and other parts of India, but have not been introduced into England.
A kind of flour is obtained from the nut.
Another pretty palm nut is that of the Macaw (Acrocomia sclerocarpa, Mart).
It is often turned and carved into small ornaments abroad. I have finger rings, sailors' rings for their neck ties, and other small articles made from them.
On removing the outer coat, the nut has a beautiful black hue, which takes a fine polish, but they arc too small to be commercially useful.
The uses of the coco-nut shells, from their familiarity, are now less appreciated. But we still see them carved and polished on the exterior and made into baskets and spoons, or mounted in silver as drinking goblets. They are also used for cups, elegantly carved sugar basins, lamps, skimmers, and by the Polynesians, as well as other natives, entire, for containing their water, having two holes in the summit.
The largest nuts are chosen for this purpose, and are often seen highly polished, and of a fine black colour. The shells will also make good lamp-black, and, reduced to charcoal and pulverized, an excellent dentifrice. They are manufactured into beads for rosaries. The common ladle used over a great part of India and in the Brazils is formed of part of the shell, to which a long wooden handle is fixed. Particular virtues have been attributed to cups made of the shell of the cocoa-nut. They have been supposed to give an anti-apoplectic quality to intoxicating liquors.
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| 1806 - |
The great men of the East formed of the shell precious vessels, cutting off a transverse slice, which constituted the lid, and in this they put their tobacco, betel lime, and whatever else they masticated, believing that these articles could never be contaminated by anything noxious.
Water kept in it was considered to preserve those who drank of it from every complaint. The discovery of the Seychillio (Seychelle) Islands, and the knowledge thence derived that these nuts grew upon trees, as other coco-nuts, soon reduced their value, and now probably, by the East Indians as by the Europeans, they are only sought as a matter of curiosity, or for domestic purposes.
Of the nut are made vessels of different forms and uses. When preserved whole, and perforated in one or two places, the shell serves to carry water, and two of them are suspended from opposite ends of a stick. Some of these nuts hold six or eight pints. If divided into two between the lobes, each portion serves, according to its size and shape, for plates and dishes, or drinking-cups, these being valuable from their great strength and durability, so that this kind of utensil, in the Seychillio Islands, bears the name of vaiselli de l'Lille Praslin.
Amongst other articles, shaving-dishes, black, beautifully polished, carved, and set in silver, are made from them."—Seeman's Palms.
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| Tucuma palm |
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| Tucuma palm |
The stony seeds of the Tucuma palm (Astrocaryum Tucuma, Mart.), are in Brazil turned into rings, "birros" or knitting pins, and other small articles for which bones are employed. The seeds are so hard that it is almost impossible to break them, except by a powerful blow with a large hammer.
The kernel (albumen) is also very hard, nearly approaching to vegetable ivory. The kernel of the fruit of the doom palm is turned into beads for rosaries.
Several kinds of hard brown beans have lately been brought into use for making bracelets and other ornaments. Their plainness and monotony is varied by gilt or steel studs and settings, and small beads intermingled with ornamental pendants.
The large horse-eye bean, the seed of a species of Mucuna, is really ornamental, and curious when mounted for bracelets.
(Often called Hamburger Bean now. :-)
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| Entada Gigas |
The large brown sword beans of Entada Gigalobium and E. Pursaetha are made into spoons, small coin cases, scent bottles, etc. They are used by the natives of India, under the name of "Gel," with Soap berries for washing their hair.
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| E. Pursaetha |
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| E. Pursaetha |
The seeds of the pod of the Carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua), are said to be the original carat weights of the jewelers. It is strange that these seeds, and those of the tamarind, date, have not been applied to some economic use with us.
The locust pods or carob beans, as they are termed, have come largely into use as a cattle food in this country, although they were first introduced at a high price in the chemists' shops as an improver of the voice. Vocalists were assured that like the sweets recommended in the extempore doggerel of a well-known and popular itinerant vendor, they would—
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| Custard Apple |
In the Portuguese settlement of Ambrez, Africa, the seeds of the custard apple are strung upon thread as necklaces,
and in the Kew Museum are rosaries made of olive seeds and stones.
Immature oranges, turned and polished, make very pretty rosaries, having a pleasant odour, and they are also sold in chemist's shops as "issue peas." (I had to look up "issue peas". They are small pea shaped objects placed in wounds to keep them draining freely.)
Walnut shells are frequently mounted with hinges and used as the ornamental cases for miniature articles, such as scissors, thimbles, &c, and the Limerick gloves are packed in them, while jewels and other presents are often disguised in this rough case as an agreeable surprise.
Calabashes, the hard rind or covering of the fruit of the Crescentia cujete, are used for all kinds of domestic utensils in Africa and the West Indies.
Cups and saucers, baskets and bowls, pepper and salt dishes, &c., of various sizes, plain or carved and ornamented, take the place of crockery, and are not so easily broken or destroyed.
I have them in my collection in all sizes and styles. Many will stand the fire for cooking as well as an iron pot.
(To the left: Displays at Mary and Marvin Johnson's Gourd Museum, Kennebec, North Carolina, 1946)
Under the name of bottle-gourds the hard and rough rind of the fruit of the Lagenaria vulgaris, cleared of the pulp and seeds, is used like the calabash for ready-made bowls and vessels for holding water.
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| Oncoba spinosa, the snuff-box tree, fried egg tree or fried-egg flower, |
Snuff-boxes, again, are made by the Africans of Oncoba spinosa in Natal and Gaboon.
Having touched upon their purely ornamental applications, I may have a few words to say in a future number upon the edible uses of some of the ordinary nuts and seeds, and others that have been less generally utilized.
8 Winchester-street, Pimlico, Sept. 28.
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Source: 1858 - Journal for the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
- Wayne's World - You must go here.
- Jane Austen's World Great link for coquilla nut use in mid-1800s.
- Palm Fruit and Seeds Excellent collection of photos! Explore the whole site and its other offerings, it is not what you expect. Really.
- Oenocarpus bataua or Jessenia bataua This nut is not mentioned but I
want to show you this turned piece.
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