B58-673 COMMEMORATIVE TOOLS. Silver trowel with ivory handle, 13" long, and rosewood mallet, 7". The blade of the trowel is inscribed "Presented to F.L. Fothergill, Esq., Chairman of the Board of Guardians, On the Occasion of His Laying the Foundation Stone of the Chapel at the Dewsbury Union Workhouse Nov. 7th 1902." There are several hallmarks on the reverse side to tell you how fine the silver is and who made it. The turned rosewood mallet is unmarked, but with a Victorian coin mounted in the head and a silver ring around the handle. The tools are in the original fitted, plush-lined case. The idea of providing the dignitaries who presided at this type of ceremony with elaborate ceremonial "tools", as if they'd actually do any work, rather than using the money to, say, buy better food for the orphans at the workhouse, is one of those charming customs that made the Victorian Era so picturesque, and gave Charles Dickens so much material. Dewsbury, in west Yorkshire, had a workhouse at least since the 1770s. Fine 1000-2000