COLLECTING GUIDES Nutmeg graters
GRATE BRITISH ISLES
More than 500 years since nutmeg was ‘discovered’ in Eastern Indonesia, author John Reckless lifts the lid on the most collectable graters
I
n Medieval times nutmeg was a rare, perfumed spice from the ‘unknown East’ with fabled, perceived medicinal and disease-preventative properties. It was 1512 before the Portuguese reached the Banda archipelago in Eastern Indonesia – six tiny islands to which, for reasons largely unknown, the Myristica fragrans nutmeg tree was confined. Subsequently, from 1600 the colonial Dutch endeavoured to monopolise the trade, with resistance from the British. Since then, with its high financial and human cost, nutmeg and mace (its associated spice), has exerted a surprising influence on both world politics and social mores. Wealth from the trade monopoly even altered European buildings and artistic sponsorship,
32 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Above Nutmeg grater,
c. 1690, British, cowrie shell, silver Right Michel Garnier
(1753–1829) Myristica fragrans, 1801
