Victorian Silver Napkin Rings
Individual napkin ring holders were a popular dining table accessory in the late Victorian household. These rings were first used in homes of modest means and rooming houses where it was necessary to use the same napkin at several sittings before it was laundered. For this reason rings were not used in sets, but rather featured varying designs reflecting an individual’s interests, household status or whimsy so that one could always find their own napkin on the sideboard or serving table.
Most napkin rings were inexpensive silver plate priced for their middle class market. Their popularity as gifts gradually moved the rings toward more upper scale households where napkins were laundered every day and in these settings one could occasionally find a ring of fine sterling silver.
The design range of these napkin rings was limited only by the imagination and ranged from simple barrel forms to complicated combinations of rings, salts, bud vases, butter pats and other table accessories. Today’s collectors often concentrate on one or two specific design forms such as birds, dogs, cats, farm animals and implements, sporting motifs, wild and exotic animals and fancy fretwork or rococo rings. One of the most popular collecting groups is the human figure with cherubs, children and fashionable ladies all eagerly sought after. Kate Greenway figures are an important sub-group of these figurals. Greenway (American, 1841 to 1901) was a popular illustrator of books known for her romanticized children in Victorian dress. Greenway designs appeared on nearly all forms of Victorian decorative objects in china, metal and glass. Another rare group of rings are those enhanced with glass, including colored glass animal eyes, colorless or art glass bud vases and glass receptacles for toothpicks or salt. As it became easier to have clean napkins at every meal these rings were gradually relegated to display cupboards and largely disappeared from use by the early twentieth century.