Rights Holder: Somerset County Council
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SPOON
Unique ID: SOM-91C874
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A post-medieval cast copper-alloy (latten) spoon, surviving complete. The bowl is oval generally rounded, but slightly more steeply at the stem end. There is a maker's mark of a 'I R (with spoon)', on the front of the bowl near the stem. There are pellets above and below each letter. The stem is flat and connected straight to the edge of the bowl with no strengthening tail on the back. The stem terminates in an integral fluted baluster seal top, somewhat distorted; the seal top seems plain. There are extensive traces of a white metal coating on the bowl's internal surface. The bowl is 63.0mm long, 52.9mm wide and 13.6mm deep.
The bowl shape is, naturally, consistent with seal top spoon in latten dated c. 1640 by Homer (1975, 46; ref. b). Similarly the fluted baluster seal top is a 17th-century feature (ibid., 38; ref. f). The seal top has a long floruit from c. 1550; this piece sits comfortably towards its end, c. 1630-1670 AD. This mid 17th-century date is re-enforced by the maker's mark of 'I R (with spoon)', documented in Butler (2001, 49; ref. 92) with a slightly different rendering on a very similar overall spoon form.
Inscription:
I R
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Period from: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1630
Date to: Circa AD 1670
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 176.9 mm
Width: 52.9 mm
Weight: 39.79 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Saturday 20th April 2013
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: SCC receipt 22461
Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Completeness: Complete
Surface Treatment: White metal coated
Spatial metadata
Region: South West (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Somerset (County)
District: South Somerset (District)
To be known as: Haselbury Plucknett CP
Spatial coordinates
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
References cited
| Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butler, R. and Butler V. | 2001 | A Study Collection of Marked Domestic Brass and Other Base Metalware c.1600-c.1900. | Devon | Marwood House | 49 | 92 | |
| Homer, R.F. | 1975 | Five Centuries of Base Metal Spoons | London | The Worshipful Company of Pewterers | 38, 46 |
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Timeline of associated dates
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