Image

Silver sugar tongs with small ends and a thicker handle portion.
Silver sugar tongs with small ends and a thicker handle portion.
Silver sugar tongs with small ends and a thicker handle portion.
Silver sugar tongs with small ends and a thicker handle portion.
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Nehemiah Dodge

Sugar Tongs

Description

Maker

Nehemiah Dodge (American, 1774 - 1856)

Title

Sugar Tongs

Year

ca. 1824

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

silver

Geography

Place Made: Providence; Place Made: Rhode Island

Dimensions

Length: 17.8 cm (7 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Marks: N. Dodge

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Walter H. Kimball Fund

Object Number

78.047

Type

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Trading Earth
Ceramics, Commodities, and Commerce
Apr 09, 2022 – Jul 20, 2025

Label copy

Over centuries, as demand for sugar increased, the locations where sugar cane was grown expanded, as did the number of enslaved humans forced to cultivate this labor-intensive crop. Originating in New Guinea, sugar cane was brought to India and then the Caribbean, where the Dominican Republic led production in the early 1500s. A century later, sugar cane became the base of the economy in Dutch-colonized Brazil, where more than 500,000 Africans had been shipped through the Atlantic slave trade to plant, tend, harvest, and process the crop.

Related Publications

Related Publications

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This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Nehemiah Dodge (American, 1774 - 1856)
Sugar Tongs, ca. 1824
Silver
Length: 17.8 cm (7 inches)
Walter H. Kimball Fund 78.047

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