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An odd couple of spoons

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Topic: An odd couple of spoons

agphile

Posts: 798
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 02-08-2009 01:25 PM

This spoon is a fraction over 4½ inches long. There is a mark at the bottom of the stem but it is far too worn to decipher. I cannot even make out whether it is a device or initials. If I believed the spoon to be English, I would think it to be a late 17th century provincial attempt at a teaspoon. However, I have never seen another like it. The short rattail on the bowl is not an English feature. Although some Scottish and York tablespoons have disc ends to their stems, they are nothing like the one on this spoon. I assume it is probably continental. I wonder whether anyone knows of a part of Europe where spoons of this shape were made, and if so, at around what period? Or will it have to remain a one-off, unidentified oddity?

This next spoon is just under 4½ inches long and in the style of the early years of the 18th century, but I wonder whether it is actually a bit later than that. It is initialed ML conjoined in a cartouche on the front of the stem. The engraving does not allow space for initials on the back where I would normally expect them in the case of a dognose spoon. It is not in the best of condition – some kinks to the stem and the bowl a bit out of shape. The mark at the bottom of the stem seems to read HJ, but could be HU conjoined or HLI conjoined (or indeed, if looked at the other way, a Cyrillic GN!). The mark nearer the top of the stem is a five pointed star.

I wonder whether anybody recognizes these marks?

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