Chew on this Silver Baby Rattle

SM sent me a simple little silver item with three bells on the bottom, and a whistle at the top, about four inches long, slightly chewed on. He asked, “what is it?” I surprised him with an email: S, it’s a silver baby rattle from the mid-19th century.

These days we don’t give such small things to youngsters. But people considered them a sign of prestige and a method to ward off evil in the 18th century when they first came in vogue.

Picture This Silver Baby Rattle

Children’s portraiture became popular around 1835-1845, at least for boys. People didn’t consider girls important enough to warrant a portrait, unless noble. In these we often see a baby holding a silver stick-like figure, very ornately decorated and showy. Sometimes we see a small stick of coral at the end. Some have a circular end. They look like miniature jester poles, with bells flying off a bulbous top, and a lower level of jingle bells, followed by a row of little pendant balls filled with something that rattles. Somewhere on these baby toys you also see a whistle in the shaft, usually on the end of the rattle, and usually flattened by young gums, and unplayable. The circular thing held a ribbon, used to tie the rattle around the baby’s neck. Doubly dangerous but often done!

Practical and Mythical

People who never saw such a thing often wonder about the spike of coral, irregular and organic looking, that pokes from the bottom. The coral end serves two purposes, one practical, and one mythical. Coral has a smooth and hard graduated surface, naturally useful for teething purposes. But people in the late 18th through the early 20th century believed coral, the color of blood, protected against illness and evil.

Coral jewelry, for this reason, was given as gifts, and grown people also wore coral, especially in the Victorian era, when a fad for naturalistic jewelry reigned. Regarding SM’s rattle, it looks like silver, but the rattle feels too heavy in construction to be anything but silver plate. Silver plate became the middle-class answer to the baby rattle in pure sterling favored by the upper classes. For the well born children of the nobility, the baby sported a solid gold rattle. The wealthy of Regency England and the American Federal period parents purchased these rattles in sterling or gold, not usually engraved, for the male child, for two reasons. Again, one practical and the other mythical. Silver and gold are naturally germicidal, and, mythicaly speaking, bear the color of the sun and the moon, respectively. Good protection against the darkness of evil, so they thought.

Bells, Whistles, and Rattles

Collectors of children’s precious metal rattles spanning 1750-1890, collected from England, and also from America. In Europe the style in rattles was more naturalistic. Some European rattles were made of horn filled with shot, held upon a wooden stick. However, baby rattles became popular, through all classes of people, for generations.

The top of the heap in terms of value for collectors is an early, 18th century, sterling rattle in great condition, with a nice long spike of coral, and many bells and whistles. In fact, that expression comes from the finer the rattle, the more bells and whistles!

Christening Mugs

Another style came later in the realm of expensive baby gifts, the Christening mug. This was a Victorian invention, usually engraved upon sterling, and the style continues to this day. You can order a Tiffany baby mug in sterling for $575. Folks that collect these antique christening or birthday mugs find condition is everything. They usually were dropped many times over, and dented severely, as is the case with all children’s objects, condition is paramount.

Next time you visit a World Class museum, take a look at the portraiture of the child or the noble family with a baby. You will no doubt see something in silver, rather frightening looking, with a red spike end: that’s the baby rattle. Collectors pay up to $1,500 for a sterling rattle from the Georges period (George I through IV) if they collect English rattles. American collectors pay much more, as they were rare in this young country, and usually commissioned by early American silversmiths. The value of SM’s rattle is $150 and could be worth more to him if a relative did the chewing.