Object Type
Using an egg boiler or steamer, eggs could be prepared at the table and served hot and fresh to diners. A frame within the vessel held the egg under the boiling water, and the cover prevented hot steam from escaping and assisted the boiling process.

Design & Decoration
The earliest egg boilers date from the 1790s.They were usually oval, hemispherical or cylindrical in shape, on openwork feet, with the lamp resting between. They catered for between four and six eggs. This boiler is typical of late 19th-century examples, with complementary ornament such as the chicken finial on the lid and the engraved farmyard scenes. Some egg boilers had larger stands to accommodate egg cups.

Materials & Making
Walker & Hall were important manufacturing and retailing silversmiths in the 19th century, with a factory in Sheffield that supplied markets throughout the world with cheap electroplated goods from cutlery to tea wares and race prizes. The founder, George Walker, worked as an assistant to Dr John Wright, who conducted experiments that led to the development of commercial electroplating. Walker understood the significance of the new process, which could produce a cheap substitute for silver. Licensed by Elkington & Co., electroplating was a technique by which silver could be deposited on a base metal alloy, usually nickel, by the action of an electric current.