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[WELCOME:  My articles published on NutmegGraters.Com and commercially (elsewhere) required many years of primary research, personal expense, travel and much effort to publish.  This is provided for your enjoyment, it is required that if quoting my copyrighted text material, directly provide professionally appropriate references to me.  Images are unavailable for copy. Thank you  J. Klopfer.]
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Contact This Site:

We invite collectors and researchers to contact us:   

Telephone: (860) 763-2675

E~Mail: ContactUs@NutmegGraters.Com

 

An adventure into a forgotten history,
~ Nutmeg Graters ~ ingenuous, beautiful, imaginative, diverse.....

 

To Begin ~
In 1973, my introduction into nutmeg graters was the gift of this Skillin & Reed mechanical nutmeg grater. It fascinated me! Wanting to learn of its origin, I enquired among curators, antique dealers and collectors to no avail. Its mark "PAT'D SEPT.8,1867" introduced me to patent research, which lead me into my first industrial product genealogy. As a collector, soon, I located my second interesting nutmeg contraption, followed by a third; I discovered one of silver, another being ivory. I became hooked, both as a collector and researcher.

Along the way ~
By 1978, public inquires placed within the antique press connected me with the other nutmeg grater collectors; the earliest being Fran Crawford, Lois Carey, Carol Bohn and Teri Dziadul. Historical societies and some national museums responded to my letters, allowing for later in depth study. Across many years, vacations were spent researching, and traveling anywhere a facility might open their doors to me.

Presentations evolved and interested groups heard the "latest updates." During one program in 1981, a Connecticut Valley Historical Museum curator coined the now familiar name The Grater History of Nutmegs. In 1987, the story surrounding the nutmeg grater research was broadcast nationally on Public Radio's Open Air during an interview with Faith Middleton that consumed her entire radio program. Filmed in 1995, the Somers Historical Society recorded one presentation, creating a local documentary that continues to air annually on CT Local Public Television. During 2007, the Ellington Historical Society of CT sponsored a lengthy exhibition of nutmeg graters which featured The Grater History of Nutmegs program.  As an invited Keynote Presenter at the 26th Annual New England Conference on Industrial Archeology in 2013 was the research presentation: Discovery of an Industrial Center for Manufacture of Mechanical Nutmeg Graters: The Lynn~Saugus Connection. 

 

In April/May 2014 Unravel The Gavel re-printed portions from NutmegGraters.Com under the title "The Spice History & Nutmeg Graters."  "The Nutmeg Grater ~ A Kitchen Collectible and So Much More" was published in June 2016 by The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles [You can read the text on-line]. 

And today ~
"I know more about nutmeg and nutmeg graters than anyone else would ever care to hear." A small series of booklets about nutmeg graters is planned in future, but in the meanwhile a webSite ~ NutmegGraters.Com ~ will reach a wider audience using tri~annual editions, published with added updates and new features, in January, May and September of each year.    

Hope you enjoy the experience. Thank~you for your support with this project. Let me hear from you with your interests or comments.

J. Klopfer 

 

 

 

 

NutmegGraters.Com ~ The Grater History Of Nutmegs is dedicated to my dear friend Lois W. Carey (1934~2013), who openly shared her love in the collecting of nutmeg graters.

 

 

 

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        The Grater History of Nutmegs © (1981)