Item number: X38

Year: AD 1870-1900

Material: Silver Plated Metal

Size: 115 x 47 mm

Weight: 50.38 g

Provenance: Private Collector, UK, 2018

This is a silver-plated sugar tong with terminals modelled as small clawed hands, operated by a compound double-link pivot mechanism with circular finger grips. The articulated arms are joined by domed gilt rivets, which provide both structural reinforcement and decorative contrast against the silvered surface. The design is mechanical and decorative, typical of late 19th-century novelty tableware.

The stamp “FRAGET” identifies the maker as Fraget, a Warsaw firm active in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Fraget specialised primarily in electroplated wares. The number 2359 is a factory pattern or catalogue number, not a silver standard mark. The small sunburst device beside the name is a Fraget trade mark used on plated goods.

There are no Russian Imperial assay marks (such as the 84 zolotnik standard, kokoshnik head, or assayer’s initials), and no British or French assay marks. In the 19th century, solid silver produced in Warsaw (then under the Russian Empire) was legally required to carry official assay stamps. Their absence strongly indicates this example is silver-plated rather than sterling silver.

Regarding the mechanism, the articulated scissor and compound lever action resembles later mechanical grabbers, but it predates the well-known extending “Ultra Hand” toy invented in 1966 by Gunpei Yokoi of Nintendo. Yokoi did not invent the fundamental scissor-link mechanism; he adapted a long-existing pantograph-style expanding linkage that had been used in tools, fire tongs, and mechanical grabbers since at least the 19th century.

Therefore, this form of articulated gripping mechanism is considerably earlier than Yokoi’s toy and represents an established mechanical principle already in use decades before Nintendo commercialised it in toy form.

物件編號: X38

年代: 公元 1870-1900 年

材質: 鍍銀金屬

尺寸: 115 x 47 mm

重量: 50.38 g

來源: 英國私人收藏 2018

這是一支鍍銀糖夾，夾端造型為小型爪狀手掌，採用複合雙連桿樞軸結構運作，配有圓形指環握柄。連接處以圓頂鎏金鉚釘固定，兼具結構強度與裝飾對比效果。整體設計兼具機械結構與裝飾性，屬十九世紀晚期流行的趣味性餐桌器物。

戳記「FRAGET」顯示製造商為華沙銀器公司 Fraget，該公司活躍於十九世紀至二十世紀初，主要專營高品質電鍍銀製品。編號 2359 為工廠樣式或目錄編號，並非銀含量標準標記。名稱旁的小型放射狀太陽紋為 Fraget 用於鍍銀製品的商標標誌。

本件未見俄羅斯帝國官方檢定戳記（如 84 zolotnik 純度標記、kokoshnik 頭像或檢定官縮寫），亦未見英國或法國的國家檢定標記。十九世紀時，華沙（當時屬俄羅斯帝國）所製造之實心銀器依法必須加蓋官方檢定戳記；其缺失強烈顯示本件為鍍銀製品，而非純銀。

就機構而言，此種鉸接式剪刀與複合槓桿結構與後來的機械抓取器相似，但早於 1966 年由 Gunpei Yokoi 於 Nintendo 推出的「Ultra Hand」伸縮玩具。橫井軍平並未發明此類剪式連桿機構，而是運用了早已存在的伸縮式連桿（pantograph）原理；該原理自十九世紀起即廣泛應用於工具、火鉗及各類機械抓取裝置。

因此，此種鉸接抓取機構遠早於任天堂將其玩具化之前，屬於十九世紀已成熟運用的機械原理。