Antique Silver Spoons
Antique silver spoons can be a great place to start collecting antique silver, since they are small & easy to display, are relatively modestly priced, and come in a great variety of styles and patterns, as well as giving you a good feel for how silver styles have changed over the years.
One of the best know types of antique silver spoon is the apostle spoon, which probably originated in the 15th Century.
Apostle spoons have a very distinctive look with a small figure of either Jesus or one of the apostles (St Andrew, St Bartholomew, St James The Greater, St James The Less, St. John, St Jude, St Matthias, St Matthew, St Paul, St Philip, St Simon Zelotes & St Thomas) as the finial.
Apostle spoons vary in rarity with some of the saints being much more prevalent than others.
Seal top spoons are another form of early spoon, dating from around the 16th & 17th Centuries, with an almost Tudor style column at the finial, which usually has a flat round disc at the end.
Slip top spoons are another early form of spoon from the 16th or 17th Century, and tend to have a characteristically early round bowl, with a tapering stem that is “cut off” at the end.
The very round bowl, solid stem, and large hallmarks, usually nearer to (and perhaps actually in) the bowl itself are all typical of early antique silver spoons, as is simplicity of design.
Another early form of antique silver spoon is the puritan spoon, which appeared around the end of the 17th Century, again it is a very simple design as with much early antique silver.
From the middle of the 17th Century the trefid spoon became popular, with a now flat stem and the typical termination, and also the dog nosed spoon appeared, both of which come in a variety of styles, which can include decorative “lace back” patterns.
It was around this time that the infamous rat tail appeared on the underside of the spoons bowl to strengthen the termination between the stem and the bowl, the rat tail can also be decorated, with beading for example.
The types of spoon and the patterns that can be found really increased quite dramatically from the 18th century onwards, giving antique silver spoon collectors an enormous amount of choice for their collections.
One other interesting feature of antique silver spoons is the transformation from a “turn down” to a “turn up” style of manufacture.
What this means is that the spoon was made (up to say 1770) to sit on the table with the bowl facing down towards the table (hence the decoration to the back of the bowl rather than to the front), and then later this was changed so that the bowl was facing up, at which point decoration tends to be to the front of the spoon. You also find this with antique silver forks.
This “turn up” or “turn down” style can be a good indicator of age, especially when considered with the position of hallmarks, etc.
As time went on the hallmarks gradually became smaller and less prominent, and moved towards the end of the stem away from the bowl, probably as a result of more elaborate styles and patterns becoming the main decoration on antique silver spoons.
Of course there are also lots of different types of spoons, from teaspoons, to dessert spoons, and a whole lot more in between, and some collectors may also try to build a collection of examples of antique silver spoons made by one maker, or perhaps from provincial assay offices, etc.
If you would like to add to this brief discussion of antique silver spoons, show off some of your collection, or anything else that you think might be of interest to collectors then please contact us & let us know!
