{"product_id":"small-wire-mesh-tea-strainer-with-twin-cup-rests-and-red-painted-wooden-handle-c-1940-1960","title":"Small Wire-Mesh Tea Strainer with Twin Cup Rests and Red-Painted Wooden Handle, c. 1940–1960","description":"  \u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA small handled tea strainer, the working end a shallow cone of \u003cstrong\u003efine woven wire mesh\u003c\/strong\u003e set into a rolled metal rim.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo \u003cstrong\u003ewire rests\u003c\/strong\u003e project from the rim, bent into flattened diamond shapes and standing out at right angles, so the strainer can be laid across the top of a cup and let go of.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shank runs back from the rim as a length of wire bent into a \u003cstrong\u003edouble diamond\u003c\/strong\u003e — a flattened lozenge worked into the middle of the stem, which stiffens it and keeps it from twisting — before entering a plain metal ferrule.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe handle is \u003cstrong\u003eshaped wood painted a strong cherry red\u003c\/strong\u003e, with a \u003cstrong\u003ehanging hole\u003c\/strong\u003e drilled through the end, worn through to bare pale wood at the ferrule and along the gripping edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA \u003cstrong\u003ewhite rubber band\u003c\/strong\u003e is wrapped around the middle of the handle. It is not original, and it has been left where a previous owner put it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe strainer exists because of the tea bag's absence, and its decline is the tea bag's fault.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe problem it solves is specific. Early Chinese tea leaves were large enough to open up and stay in the pot. What created the need for straining was the \u003cstrong\u003eBritish plantation tea grown in India\u003c\/strong\u003e, whose smaller, more fragile leaves broke up and came through the spout into the cup. The Victorians answered with the handled strainer basket that rests across a cup while the tea is poured — the exact object this is.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the nineteenth century the market had split the way it always does: \u003cstrong\u003eTiffany \u0026amp; Co. was making sterling silver strainers\u003c\/strong\u003e for people who could afford them, and stainless steel versions served everybody else.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen the tea bag arrived and made the whole category almost unnecessary. Thomas Sullivan usually gets the credit for 1908, but the better story is that \u003cstrong\u003eRoberta C. Lawson and Mary Molaren of Milwaukee filed a patent for a “tea leaf holder” seven years before he did\u003c\/strong\u003e. Two women got there first and have spent a century being left out of the sentence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe twin rests are the detail that separates a good strainer from a bad one.\u003c\/strong\u003e Without them the strainer has to be held over the cup through the whole pour, one-handed, while the other hand manages a full pot. With them it sits on the rim and stays there, and both hands are free.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe handle dates it.\u003c\/strong\u003e American and British kitchenware of the 1930s ran to bright \u003cstrong\u003eCatalin and other coloured plastics\u003c\/strong\u003e on handles. This has none — it has shaped wood under paint, with a plain metal ferrule. Plastics went to the war effort, wood came back as the substitute, and painted wooden handles stayed standard through the years immediately after. Dated on the wooden handle, the ferrule and the hand-bent wire shank: \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1940–1960\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe strainer carries \u003cstrong\u003eno legible maker's name\u003c\/strong\u003e on the rim, the shank, the ferrule or the handle, and is offered \u003cstrong\u003eunattributed\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eHandled tea strainer for loose-leaf tea, designed to rest across a cup\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eShallow cone of fine woven wire mesh in a rolled rim, with two projecting diamond-bent wire cup rests; wire shank worked into a stiffening double diamond, into a metal ferrule and a shaped wooden handle with a hanging hole\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eWoven wire mesh and wire with a painted wooden handle\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eNo legible maker's name anywhere on the piece. A white rubber band around the handle is a previous owner's addition and has been left in place.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1940–1960. Dated on the painted wooden handle in place of the coloured plastics used before the war, and on the ferrule and hand-bent wire shank.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eVery good and fully working. The mesh is completely intact with no tears, holes, dents or pushed-through areas, the rolled rim is true and round, both cup rests are present and correctly aligned, and the shank is straight and firm with the handle tight in its ferrule. \u003cstrong\u003eExpect honest kitchen wear to the paint\u003c\/strong\u003e — worn through to bare wood at the ferrule end and along the gripping edge, with scattered chips elsewhere — along with light dulling and a few small darkened spots to the metal. No rust through, no repairs and no missing parts. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnybody who has moved from bags to loose-leaf tea needs one of these on about day two, and the old ones are better than the new ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe mesh on this is genuinely fine, which is the only thing that matters — it catches the small broken leaf that modern coarse strainers let straight through. The two rests mean it stays put on the cup while you pour with both hands. And it is small, so it suits a single cup rather than demanding a full pot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is not only for tea. The same strainer dusts icing sugar or cocoa over a small tart, rinses a handful of capers or berries, strains a cocktail, or catches lemon pips going into a dressing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHung by its hole on a rail or a cup hook, it also just looks right. Red, pale worn wood and grey wire is a full kitchen palette in one small object, and the wear on the handle is the part people notice — somebody held this the same way, several thousand times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care, and with a mesh strainer there is one rule that decides how long it lasts. \u003cstrong\u003eRinse it immediately after use and dry it at once.\u003c\/strong\u003e Tannin dries hard in a fine mesh and blocks it permanently, and water left sitting in the weave rusts it from the inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDo not put it in a dishwasher and do not leave it to soak.\u003c\/strong\u003e Either will swell the wooden handle off its ferrule and lift the remaining paint. Wash the mesh under a hot tap with a soft brush, keeping the handle out of the water, and stand it to dry with the cone downward so nothing pools in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNever push a spoon or anything hard through the mesh to clear it — the weave stretches and will not go back. Store it dry and hanging rather than in a drawer, where the rests get bent and the cone gets crushed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48042418241641,"sku":"VE-0715","price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/3463B7DB-26A8-4C3A-A73F-6817E40F2A4B.jpg?v=1789150215","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/small-wire-mesh-tea-strainer-with-twin-cup-rests-and-red-painted-wooden-handle-c-1940-1960","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}