SPOON

Description: Incomplete silver object of uncertain function, probably part of a spoon handle or other utensil. The artefact comprises a silver rod of circular section, broken off at one end and flattened at the other, forming a strip-like area with the remains of a rounded plate-like element at the end, terminating in a transverse break. The object is bent in half at the junction between the circular-sectioned rod and the flattened strip. Just behind the break on the rod are three concentric incised lines. At the junction between rod and strip are four or five similar incised concentric lines. The strip is incised on both faces, one face with a triple-stranded interlace design enclosed by a border of roughly parallel diagonal grooves running up either side, the other with a long cross pattee.

Dimensions: Approximate extant length: 55.8mm, maximum width: 7.8mm, minimum width: 3.1mm, diameter: 2.5mm thickness: 1.5mm, weight: 2.2g.

Discussion: It is difficult to identify this object precisely given its fragmentary state. However, in shape and decoration it bears similarities to a spoon or spatula from a mid ninth-century hoard found at Sevington, Wiltshire (British Museum, accession no. 1888,0719.98). The Sevington spoon lacks a rod-like element, but does feature flattened strip-like areas, one of which is incised with a similar interlace design. A copper alloy spoon fragment from Coddenham, Suffolk, dated to the eighth to ninth centuries (SF-07BEF8) features both flat and rod-like panels, along with concentric circles as ornament around the handle, although otherwise it differs in its decoration, incorporating ring-and-dot motifs rather than interlace. Earlier silver spoons and strainers from the sixth to seventh centuries feature rod-like handles with concentric incised ornament, but lack the flattened section, e.g. from Freshwater, Isle of Wight (British Museum,) and Desborough, Northamptonshire (British Museum, 2004,0901.1 and 1876,0504.2 respectively). The closest parallels in both form and decoration thus point to a slightly later date.

Date: Probably eighth to ninth century.