Thursday, May 3, 2007

Pap Feeder


Item no. 39
Pap Feeder
(or Teat Spoon
or Bombilla
or Sick Siphon)



Woodward Biomedical Library collection

Acquisition history:
Gift of Miss Alice Wright, 1966

Fabric: Silver
Marks:
Hallmarks:
• On lower end: Crown B I
• On stem: Ditto repeated three times
Measurements:
• Overall length: 4 4/10"
• Diam. at mouthpiece: 2/10"
• Length of hook: 2 3/10"
• Width at widest point: 1"

Shape: Single curve, more pronounced at mouthpiece.

Notes:
An 18th century teat spoon, one of two sold at auction at Parke-Bernet Gallery, New York, as part of the estate of a New England family. There are very few references to "teat spoons" in the literature. In Esther Forbes' Paul Revere and the world he lived in reference is made on p. 80 to a silver teat spoon Revere had made for his infant daughter. A bombilla (Spanish American) is a " small silver or gold perforated tube made for drinking the mate." This pap feeder is of English origin. Its form is known as "swan-necked". The hook serves to attach the feeder to the rim of a cup.


Invoice for purchase of item in 1941
Please click on image to view larger version.