What is it 2nd edition!

[AntiquesOnTheSide]

Well here is our second installment in unknown antiques.  We believe this is a canister set for the O. Schurig family but none of our kitchen collectible books have any canisters joined together like these.  Has anyone ever seen anything like this?  Coffee/tea, sugar/brown sugar or some other pair of ingredients?  Please help us label this item correctly.

[cogar]

Me no think that is a common kitchen collectible item because of the brass “name/date” tag affixed (soldered) to it. If one was manufacturing tens of thousands of them for sale to the public, producing and affixing said “tag” would be a big unnecessary expense.

So my guess is that it is a “specialty” item built for a select clientele such as the military, sportsmen hunters/campers/safaris, gold seekers/miners, chuckwagons, .   

[KC]

Believe it is specialty....German made (at least the name on it is German)

Believe it is also a travelers/soldiers? companion due to the handle.   1864 was the beginning of the Danish-German War. Detailed outline of details http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/unific.htm

I absolutely love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[talesofthesevenseas]

Maybe one way to research this would be to try to track down O. Schurig. There are only so many names beginning with O and I would suspect this would be a male name since a woman wouldn't need to label her household items. Oliver Oscar Olaf?

[fancypants]

Perhaps a silverware canteen

What are the dimentions of your item , A.O.T.S. ?

[talesofthesevenseas]

I tried running searches for O. Schurig on Ancestry.com without luck. It looks like it would take a lot of research. Sometimes a name will jump out, other times they are obscure .

[talesofthesevenseas]

Am I understanding the photos correctly, that we're talking about two different items here, right? One set of four cannisters with no lids and no handle, another set of two cannisters with lids and a handle, right? Is there also a handle on the set of four?

[syl]

I think it is one object. In the top photo the lids are open and in the bottom photo the view is reversed and the lids are closed. Make sense? With the date 1864 it could be Civil War related.

[cogar]

Just looking at the container I can surmise several potential things:

1. It appears to be made of tin so the contents were non-corrosive.
2. Conjoined compartments imply two different but related contents.
3. Volume of containers, hinged lids, handle, etc. implies contents were low usage.
4. Hinged lids implies prevention of interchanging lids or prevent loss of lids.
5. Brass tag implies Schurig was producer of contents, not necessarily the container.
6. Originally there were “paper labels” on each container describing their contents.

[KC]

Just a stab....but it appears to be a fine container....tea was making it's headway during this time (especially green tea) and it was coveted by the wealthy and well-to-do.
When I first saw this I felt it had to do with tea......but held my fingers back to see what the others came up with.  Tin was used to retain quality and well fit caps were much needed.

Many members of the Schurig family were in medicine (many areas from medical to mental) in Germany.  So - this would fit in with the time line and doings of the time.

[regularjoe2]

Looks like a double mucket ... ; .... unless there's uniform 'wear marks' i/s that indicate another piece of tin once fit inside of it ... (mess kit) .

[AntiquesOnTheSide]

To answer some of the questions raised.  It is one double cannister set.  We took two pictures, one with the lids open & one closed.  Each cannister is 3-3/4" in diameter and 4" high.  They are tin but are a rather heavy tin not thin at all.  A lot of time was spent soldering the cannisters together and attaching the brass name tag.  It appears to have been painted silver in color.  We want to thank everyone for all the ideas.  We also tried to research the name and came up with some Schurigs that were tin smiths who came from Germany to New Jersey and then Indiana.  The first name we found was Charles but he had many children.  Thanks again.