SPOON

A fragment of a cast copper-alloy Post-Medieval (1550-1650) 'seal-top' knop spoon or 'Baluster seal' type spoon (Geake, H. 2001 Finds Recording Guide Version 1.1), consisting of the seal-top terminal only. There is just a stub of the stem of the handle surviving: enough to show that its cross-section was sub-oval with a diameter of c.2.30mm. It measures 35.50mm in length and weighs 7.45g.

The knop begins with a shallow double circular collar; the baluster part then flares out to a width of 9.5mm. The baluster is decorated with longitudinally incised lines. Above the baluster are a further pair of collars, the upper larger and decorated with longitudinally incised lines. The knop then flares out into a sub-oval seal top, 12.05mm by 10.55mm which is flat on the upper side.

This type of spoon knop was common from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century. Moore (1999, 5) attributes their contemporary popularity to the fact that the owner's and donor's initials could be pricked or engraved onto the disc. On this example nothing can be discerned and it was conceivably always plain. Moore (1999, 5) also highlights the fact that such knops were cast separately and then soldered to the handle; this perhaps explains the nature of this fragmentary survival. The object is now corroded with areas of dark-green patina over red/brown metal.

For a complete petwer example of this type see Egan (2005), Material culture in London in the age of transition, 116, no.570.