Museum Feature: A Victorian Silver Nursery Clamp

Oh, those Victorians!  They thought of everything.  

Shown here is a set of sterling nursery scissors or otherwise called a “mid-wife clamp.” Made by Tiffany & Co., this tool was used to clamp the umbilical cord when delivering a baby by midwives in the 19th and early 20th centuries.  The beak does not cut, they are ridged to grip.  Initially the clamp would be used to clamp the umbilical cord before it was cut.  The clamps were footed and stood upright and placed on a fireplace mantle as a way of announcing to guests that the lady of the house was expecting. You may have noticed the open cavity under the stork's wing.  On our pair, it is empty but some pairs have a small swaddled baby in them, others have a fish inside to represent Christianity.  In some cases the stork will have a snake (serpent) coiled around it’s leg representing the “original sin.” After they were used in childbirth, the stork clamps were repurposed as ribbon threaders for bonnets, gowns, and undergarments.

Our stork clamp, along with many other interesting pieces, is part of our showroom museum collection.