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Skimmer (from the "Constitution")
about 1800–20
Object Place: probably New England, United States
Medium/Technique
Brass, wrought iron, copper; with later silk rep ribbon in red, white, and blue, and paper tag
Dimensions
Other (Overall): 60.3 x 18.4 cm (23 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Charles Hitchcock Tyler
Accession Number33.7
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsModels
It is believed that this skimmer was used on "Constitution." A seventeenth-century source noted that "cooks [use the skimmer to] take away all the filth and scume from off a Boiling pott the liquor running throw the holes, and the dregs remaineing on the scummer."
DescriptionA long-handled skimmer, with a shallow hammered brass bowl pierced with a number of small round openings, fastened with copper rivets to a wrought-iron handle that is flattened at its tip and bent to form a hook; a later silk rep ribbon in red, white, and blue is tied around the handle, along with a paper tag giving the traditional history (see Inscriptions).
InscriptionsIn ink in script on paper tag tied to handle: "This Skillet from the Good Old / Ship (Constitution) Given to / my mother by Capt. Maynard / and she gave same to me / Frederic Russell [illegible] very old." On reverse: "From Capt. Maynard / to my mother and is / older than myself. My / G.G. Grandfather was also an / officer on board. Fuller C.S.C."
ProvenanceBy tradition, used on the U.S.S. Constitution; from Capt. Maynard to the mother of Francis Russell (see inscription on paper tag); acquired before 1932 by the noted Boston collector Charles Hitchcock Tyler (1863–1931) , who bequeathed it to the Museum.