SPOON

Treasure case 2017 T917: Disclaimed, returned to finder

Description: A late Medieval to Post-Medieval silver spoon, broken and bent at the handle with the end of the handle and knop missing. The bowl is fig shaped with a probable town mark or makers or workshop mark on the front near the stem. The mark appears to be multiple pellets, within a pellet line circle. The handle is joined to the bowl with a V which extends slightly onto the back of the bowl. The handle is hexagonal in section, worn and corroded with no marks now visible. The broken end of the handle has been bent over 120 degrees before the break.

Dimensions: The spoon now measure 107.3mm long. The bowl is 60.1mm long by 43.1mm wide and 8.8mm thick and the piece weighs 17.71g.

Discussion: The bowl form and narrow stem suggest a date of AD 1400-1650. Without a hall mark or knop it is not possible to be more precise in dating. The mark cannot be easily paralleled. It does not appear to be the pelleted circle used at Salisbury or the berry mark used by the Quicks at Barnstaple (Kent 1992) although it is close to the latter. In the report for 2010 T103 (Thornton 2010) it is suggested that a lozenge of pellets on the back of the bowl of that spoon represents Exeter but this is not reported in Kent (1992). If this is a similar mark it is here within a circle and not identical to that on 2010 T103.

The spoon appears to consist of over 10% precious metal and be over 300 years old at the time of finding and as such qualifies as potential Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996.

Laura Burnett

Finds Liaison Officer for Devon and Somerset

January 2018

Bibliography

Kent, T. A. 1992. West Country Silver Spoons and their makers 1550-1750. London: Bourdon-Smith

Thornton, D. 2010. SOM-D55774: A POST MEDIEVAL SPOON Web page available at: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/290066 [Accessed: 23 Jan 2018 14:00:00]