Description:
Baluster-shaped copper chocolate pot with a plain copper lid formed from a sheet of copper with a center circular hole and fitted over the outside of the pot's rim; sides tapering to a swelled base and flared foot; and black-painted, rolled iron handle splayed into a flange attached to the side of the pot with two rivets (where the handle attaches to the pot is slightly cracked), which extends straight out from the side. The hole in the lid is for the insertion of a chocolate mill or molinet - a knobbed piece of wood used to mix and areate the chocolate beverage. Chocolate was a beverage drunk in early America and in Deerfield, primarily taken for breakfast or as a meal replacement for the elderly or infirm. In 1756 Major Elijah Williams of Deerfield, Massachusetts, purchased 40 lbs. of chocolate at 10 shillings per lb. from a Boston merchant;.he also purchased equal amounts of tea at 37 shillings, 6 pence per lb. and coffee at 8 shillings per lb. There are also account book references to the purchase of chocolate by Lucy Terry, an enslaved African- American owned by Ebenezer Wells in Deerfield; the chocolate may have been used at his tavern which Wells kept within his residence. The preparation of chocolate was a very involved and time-consuming process, quite unlike today’s ready-mix. According to an English source, some people "boil [the chocolate] in water and sugar, others mix half water and half milk and boil it, then added powdered chocolate to it and boil them together; others add wine and water." "Be sure whilst it is boiling to keep it stirring, and when it is off the fire, whir it with your hand mill [the stick used for stirring the thick chocolate mixture]. That is, it must be mixed in a deep pot of Tin, copper or stone, with a cover with a hole in the middle of it, for the handle of the mill to come out at, or without a cover. This being whirled between your hands, whilst the pot is over the fire, and raises a head of froth over it. Then pour it out for use in small dishes for that purpose. You must add a convenient quantity of sugar to the mixture." The chocolate pot is created from sheet copper hammered into the correct shape and then soldered together; the side of pot has overlapping finger-like joints on the side soldered together with spleter (a type of brass); the base of the pot has a small circular repair. This pot was at a later time given a wooden knob which fit through the circular hole in the lid. Those later parts have been removed for its proper presentation as a chocolate pot.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2006.12 |
