English tinder-box in Hough’s figure 48

Overview

Figure48 presents a low, round container with a ring projecting from its side and a separate circular lid carrying an upright cylindrical candle socket. The caption groups it with flint, a shaped steel called a flourish, and a bundle of wooden spunks. Its catalogue number is75516, with England given as the locality and Louis and Maurice Farmer as collectors. These are collection associations, not a maker’s signature or proof of a particular manufacturing town. The engraved view supports the container’s broad shape and visible fittings, but does not identify its exact metal or other material, dimensions, age or original surface colour. A contextual illustration of the box and lid can therefore leave the separate striking accessories outside the composition without presenting an invented complete kit.

Hough discusses this form among tinder-boxes remembered by an older generation, kept close to the fireplace and used before convenient matches displaced them. In the associated account, tinder of burnt linen is kept dry and extinguished by a damper, while sulphur-tipped wooden pieces take a flame from glowing tinder. He reports Edward Lovett’s explanation that lids often carried candle sockets and that some boxes consequently survived as candlesticks after their fire-lighting role had declined. This supplies a practical reason for the lid fitting without identifying every dark shape inside the engraved container as a particular mechanism. The profile records a historical museum example and the author’s account of changing use, without claiming that the object represents every English household, that its current location is unchanged, or that a generated study is an authenticated antique.

History & identity

Walter Hough’s historical museum collection study.

Sources & representation

Complete selected introduction, African regional passage, English tinder-box passage, associated captions, catalogue rows and notes read; selected native figures inspected.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Fire-making Apparatus in the U. S. National Museum

   Walter Hough · 1888

   Report of the United States National Museum for the year ending June30,1888,Part2,pp.531–587. Smithsonian catalogue uses1888 as report date; no actual printing-year or physical titlepage claim.

Language & cultural connections

Source-supported language and cultural connections have not yet been compiled for this profile.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Historical museum collection studyHough, original museum account and figuresResearch access: 2026-10-18
2. Institutional bibliographic metadataSmithsonian Libraries and Archives, publication recordResearch access: 2026-10-18

Image credits

Generated interpretation of published material forms; not photographed specimens or authenticated replicas. The container is shown deeper than in the source engraving.