This is a lovely silver plated tea infuser. The bypass tongs stay in the closed position, squeeze them to open them. The bowls are shell shaped with rows of small holes along the ribs.

It is 5-1/4" long, 1-1/2" wide. It is marked with the british design patent number Rd 318567, the name Elkington, a date code which might be an H or an N, and E&Co in a shield. I believe these are from the late 1800's. They have some marks on the handles like someone used tools to try to adjust them, they don't close tight, they are about 1/8" apart at the back, otherwise they are very nice.