SPOON

Roman cast copper alloy spoon handle of fourth century date with a 'C' shaped joint between the handle and offset bowl. The end of the handle and most of the bowl are missing to old breaks. The handle is twisted with concave sides between the angles and a circular section overall. Closer to the junction of bowl and handle the handle flattens and has a rectangular cross-section. The joint between the handle and bowl is thinner but still rectangular sectioned.

Between the handle and the joint is a double collar with a groove between which projects slightly from the top edge of the handle, beyond this is a diagonal groove which separates off the C (U) shaped section of the joint. The joint appears C shaped in profile with the handle attached to the back of the C and the bowl attached to the lower end. The upper end of the C is rounded with a short diagonal groove running down from the top edge. The lower end is longer with just a small section of bowl still attached.

The stem has been bent upwards at the broken end and the joint and bowl has been bent off to one side. It is now 59.9mm long, 3.6mm in diameter on the stem, the joint is 11.4mm high and 2.2mm thick. It weighs 4.72 grams. A very similar spoon with twisted handle and offset bowl was found at Nettleton, Wiltshire (Sherlock in Wedlake 1982:202, no.3), other very similar examples on this database include SF-4F8A11, HAMP-BC98A7 and WMID-F70F42 (also published in the PAS Annual Report 2006, 57-58).