Earliest Known Truly English Antique Jewish Spice Box 1849 - 1850 Judaica

Description

This exceptionally well made silver cup stands 3 inches high. The original purpose of this cup was an egg cup holder, see last photo of a similar example from England, 1809. In the fourth photo, which is the mouth of the cup, at 12 o'clock by the inner rim, you can make out six notches (made by the silversmith himself), indicating that this was the sixth egg cup in a set of six egg cups, which had a frame (meaning a holder), and the frame had corresponding notches to match numbered cups with their proper placement setting in the frame. There is no lid missing to this cup, so when it was converted to a spice box, it was complete at the time as a spice box, meaning it never had a lid to begin with. In all likelihood a generic piece of silver or even a cloth was used to cover the cup to keep the spices fresh. Or perhaps the spices were discarded and subsequently refilled on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Regardless, this is a "complete" spice box, as there was no lid made at the time of manufacture of the egg cup.
While I cannot identify the maker of the cup, as the mark is worn (see extreme left in closeup photo of the hallmarks), the other series of marks indicate the city of London, the date 1845. There are engraved numerals of "253" on the foot. You can see by the engraving it has the date of "A.M. 5610", which is Anno Mundi (Latin for "from the creation of the world"), in the Hebrew year 5610, which is September 1849 - September 1850. The Hebrew is of beautiful period SPECIFICALLY ENGLISH-TYPE HEBREW CHARACTERS.
Only Judaica from England prefaces the Hebrew numeral year with "A.M."; shown above is the entrance way of the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London.
Now, you are asking, yes, this is nice, but what makes it "important"? To continue...
There are two types of "English" Jewish spice containers: 1) Spice Towers 2) Spice Boxes. A number of examples from the 18th and 19th centuries in England are held at museums such as The Jewish Museum of London and The Victoria & Albert Museum. If you do a little research, you will find that ALL, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, of the "English" spice towers do not hail from England at all, but most are from Germany, and some are from Poland. Their owners were English Jews or they belonged to English Synagogues, but the spice towers themselves are NOT English in manufacture.
Next are the spice boxes, which most, if not all, are "pepper-pots". The most prestigious of these pepper-pots come with a provenance of formerly from one Synagogue or another in England. ALL, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, of these pepper-pots that were used as spice boxes, LACK ANY HEBREW WHATSOEVER OR ANY ENGRAVING AT ALL TO INDICATE THEY WERE USED AS JEWISH SPICE BOXES. Some of the pepper-pots are completely devoid of any engraving, while others simply have a monogram of the Jewish owner in LATIN letters. Without the oral history given to the museums in England that now own these 18th and 19th century pepper-pots used as spice boxes by individuals and Synagogues, there would be no way to tell them apart from the thousands of other silver pepper-pots that have survived the past two centuries. To confirm all this, please see the book "Catalogue of the Permanent and Loan Collections of the Jewish Museum London", by R.D. Barnett (1974).
So, back to my egg cup that was converted into a Jewish spice box for the Sabbath when a man named Simon Joseph gifted this to his brother Joseph Joseph sometime between September 1849 and September 1850. My cup, which is fully hallmarked for London 1845, and bears a beautifully engraved presentation with the Hebrew year 5610 which is 1849 -1850, as well as "spices for havdalah" in typical Hebrew characters of the late 18th and first half of the 19th centuries in England, not just appears to be, BUT IS, the earliest known example of a Jewish spice box hailing from England THAT DOES NOT NEED A PROVENANCE to justify it's supposed history of being an Anglo-Jewish ceremonial object. MY PIECE STANDS ON ITS OWN. This is the first truly legitimate Jewish spice box native to England. It does not warrant or need any oral or written provenance (which can be fabricated): the piece documents itself through it's pure, honest engraving. It is an important piece of Anglo-Jewish history and belongs in a museum.
Such a beautifully engraved item, with the full names of the giver and receiver along with the date, I thought there must be records of them, and and lo and behold, there are. Joseph Joseph and Simon Joseph were indeed brothers in England, who were "skinners and furriers". Shown in the last two photos are photos from "The London Gazette". The first photo is about these two brothers, along with their other brother Judah, notifying the public that they are taking over their father's furrier business ("R. Joseph", who is Reuben Joseph), as of September 18, 1840. The second photo states that as of October 31, 1870, they were out of business. According to jewishgen.org , Simon Joseph was born in London in 1807, and his father was Reuben Joseph. Simon Joseph died on July 21, 1877 and is buried in West Ham Jewish Cemetery. There is less information for Joseph Joseph, it states he was born in London in 1806, son of Reuben Joseph, but there is no date of death or place of burial for him. It does however state he was married in the Great Synagogue of London in 1851.
The date of engraving, 1849 -1850, is right before the large Jewish immigrant wave to hit England, as between 1850 and 1880 the Jewish population increased by 70%. In 1850 the Jewish population of England was 35,000.
In person examinations as well as pickups are welcome, I am in New York City.