Early 19th Century Irish Silverplate Food Warmer, RARE! UK Silver Plate Warmer.

Interesting and rare example of an early 18th century food warmer. Seems these large key came from Ireland if not the greater UK. This was not to put food in, but on top of! The inner chamber of the box would hold a hot coal. Once it was covered the next chamber held water which would be kept hot by the coal. Next the slotted/vented flat lid would be in place. Heat would continually rise from the vented lid and a platter could be placed on top of the unit. It’s quite hard to track these down. It seems to be missing an inner box the coals would sit in, although I’m not sure if this. I would imagine they were held in place with something though. Otherwise the piece is in very good condition for being 200+ years old. It recently came out of a large, old New England collection. It is very heavy for its size at over 6lbs! Handle to handle it’s approximately 14” long and is about 8” wide. Silver plating wasn’t a very old technology when this piece was made. Ships ASAP! Thanks