Victorian Novelty Silver Brazil Nut Vesta Case 'One of the K-Nuts'

A late Victorian novelty silver Vesta Case, made in the form of a Brazil Nut, and of a registered design, the box with sprung hinged lid and silver gilt interior. Engraved "One Of The K-Nuts"

By Henry Charles Freeman, London, 1896.

One of the most famous musical hall performers of the Great War period was Basil Hallam Radford. Otherwise known as ‘Gilbert The Filbert – The Nut with a K’ or the ‘KNut’. This humour seems very dated now but it was a phrase in common usage by that generation and appears on captions and sign-boards in many WW1 images. The ‘K’ was also often linked to Lord Kitchener during the war and in photos of Kitchener’s Army men they often refer to themselves as ‘KNuts’.
The most recent incarnation of a well-established pattern of male display, the knut was a descendant of the dandy and the beau, the macaroni and the toff.

Sold - £300.00