The middle of the 18th century saw the introduction of a number of novelties, whereas previously the tendency had been to experiment and make do with objects designed originally for other purposes. Amongst these novelties were the ‘Pudding Trowle’ such as the one supplied to the Earl of Kildare by Wakelin in 1745. The ‘trowle’ normally consisted of a triangular blade which was pierced and sawn to various designs; that this should also be used for fish as well as pudding soon became obvious and by the 1770s when it was suddenly fashionable to eat whitebait, a large number were not only fish shaped in outline but also pierced and chased to represent one. The earliest trowels usually had solid silver handles; later turned and stained ivory handles became the rule. By the 19th century a fish slice was supplied with almost every service of table silver (flatware) and the handles were naturally the same pattern as the rest of the plate.