Lilliputians sugar tongs

[amena]

I found these sugar tongs made by Levi & Salaman in 1908.



I have never seen such small tongs: they could not even pick up a cube of sugar.
What could they serve? maybe a toy ?
Your opinion will be welcome.
Best regards
Amena

[Sasropakis]

Here's a link to an article by Graham Hodges about miniature Georgian silver sugar tongs (of course your tongs are not Georgian but I guess the same reasons could apply in this case too):

http://www.ascasonline.org/ARTICOLONOVEM176.html

"1. They were made for toy sets of silver-ware;
2. They were made as samples for travelling salesmen to display the maker's arts;
3. They were made by apprentices and made smaller to use less silver;
4. They were made for people to take on picnics, as part of a "travelling" set of silver-ware;
5. A patron had specifically tasked the maker with a commission for a smaller pair of tongs."

[Traintime]

One of numerous references on this site to (search function) Toy equalling Miniature in silvermaking: viewtopic.php?f=61&t=38851&p=106620&hilit=toy#p106620

[Aguest]

I once had an equally small sugar tongs by Tiffany & Company and somehow I seem to remember them being described as "Saccharine Tongs" :: Apparently they used to make "Saccharine Cubes" which were very potent and therefore these "Saccharine Cubes" were much smaller than the traditional sugar cubes, thus the tongs are much smaller as well :::

This particular pair of small English sugar tongs might be a little too early for the Saccharine Popularity Craze, I always thought Saccharine became very popular circa 1930-1960 because they fell quickly out of fashion after that, perhaps after linking Saccharine to possible negative health effects ::::

It's worth investigating, at least, if only to rule it out as a possibility :

[amena]

Well, apparently it's a topic that has been talked about a lot.
After reading a little here and there, I got the idea that my sugar tongs are a toy. They are much smaller than those described in the article by Graham Hodges and the bird-foot terminal would not allow for the collection of a saccharin tablet.
Thank you all for your contribution.
Amena