Elizabethan Slip Top Spoon, 1600

This is a good honest Elizabethan silver slip top spoon with all the typical features that one would expect. It has a plain, hexagonal stem that tapers outwards towards the terminal upon which is engraved with the initial "S" and is cut-off at an angle ("Slipped in the stalk"). The deep, fig-shaped bowl retains its original shape and size.

As you would expect with slip tops spoons, the hallmarks are spread out around the spoon with the leopard's head crowned mark within the bowl, the heart-shaped makers mark featuring a dove with a heart and the lion passant mark at the bowl end of the shank and the date letter towards the tip - this latter placement was a preventative measure against unscrupulous silversmiths adding a cast finial (e.g. seal or apostle) at a later date.

This spoon dates from the turn of the 16th into the 17th century and was made by the spoonmaker Noah Farmer. It is full of character with lots of surface marks from use and potentially from burial at some point (most likely during the English Civil War as a form of safe keeping). There is no actual damage to the form of the spoon, it is just pitting to the bowl and some scratching to the front of the stem which can be subjectively perceived as either unsightly or characterful with added intrigue and interest...