87/24

Spong & Co. Ltd. (Manufacturer)

This is a brown, metal, hand-operated bean slicer made by Spong & Co. Ltd. of London. The slicer has a screw to enable it to be fixed to a table. It is embossed, 'SPONG'S BEAN SLICER No 632 // BRITISH MADE', with a circle stamped with the word 'SPONG' inside. It was made circa 1930. It is one of a collection of kitchen utensils (accessioned under nos. 87/24 to 87/30) used by the donor's mother, in London and Suffolk from 1928 onwards. The donor gave them to MERL in 1987 after clearing out her late mother's house.

1 bean slicer: metal; good condition

MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Institute of Agricultural History) – 'Standard museum name: BEAN SLICER // Accession number: 87/24 // Classification: DOMESTIC Preparing food // Negative number: 60/15190 // Acquisition method: GIFT // Acquired from, date: [...], July 1987 // Store: small object // Condition: good // Recorder, date: JMB 8.9.87 // Description: Hand operated bean slicer with screw for fixing to a table. Made of metal with different material for the handle. Brown in colour. // Inscription: SPONG'S BEAN SLICER No 632 // BRITISH MADE // SPONG // Dimensions: Diameter of cutting plate: 10.0cm // Length: 23.0cm [screw in] // Associated information: This is part of a collection of 7 kitchen utensils used in London and Suffolk from 1928 onwards by [...], the donor's mother. // References:', Letter, donor to MERL, 14 June 1987 – 'Dear Sir, // I have the task of turning out my late mother's home and would like to know if the following items would be of interest to you (or another museum) before I throw them away. // 1) SPONG BEAN SLICER NO 632 // BRITISH MADE CIRCA 1930 // 2) SPONG MINCER NO 25 NATIONAL // MADE IN ENGLAND CIRCA 1940 // 3) ALUMINIUM FLOUR DREDGER CIRCA 1930 // 4) POTATO KNIFE & BUTTER KNIFE (VERY WORN) // 5) SHOE LAST. CAST IRON. 1 HEEL AND TWO SOLES. AGE NOT KNOWN. // 6) E.P.N.S. CUTLERY IN CASES CIRCA 1928', Letter, MERL to donor, 24 June 1987 – 'Thank you for your letter of 14th June about the items you wish to dispose of from your late Mother's house. We would be interested in acquiring the Spong bean slicer and Spong mincer. The flour dredger, potato knife, butter knife and other cutlery might be of interest to us if we could see them. We would not be interested in the shoe last as we already have several in our collections. // I would like to thank you for your offer of these items and enclose details of the Museum and its location if you are planning to bring the objects here. // Yours sincerely, // Mrs J M Betts // Museum Assistant', Letter, donor to MERL, 13 July 1987 – 'Dear Mrs Betts, // Just to say how much I enjoyed my visit to the Museum last week as I did not see you again after I had looked round. // I hope my Mother's bean slicer etc will prove to be of interest. I chose your Museum as it was listed as one which collected cooking utensils in a Shire publication. However I did not see anything similar on display so I hope they really are what you wanted. // I am enclosing the details of the two Cycle Museum for you and I remembered later that the name of the one with an exhibition of Bobbin Lace is the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery in Bedford. My memory gets worse as the years pass! // Thank you again for your time'

Greater London [region]

1930 - 1939