Irish Dog Nose Spoon, c1701

Early Irish spoons are very scarce and this is a great example of a Queen Anne period dog nose spoon. The spoon has a nice solid weight in the hand and bears an interesting betrothal engraving to the reverse terminal. The engraving all appears to be original and in betrothal triangle form - however the upper "M" that denotes the happy couple's surname is suffixed by a "C" which presumably relates to a "Mc" surname (e.g. McCall). The condition of the spoon is excellent with a good, full sized bowl with a few scratches from use. The date letter within the hallmarks is faint, but the matching partner spoon that it came with (see central photo below) is marked for 1701. The spoon was made by Joseph Walker and this mark can be seen in "Collecting Irish Silver" by Douglas Bennett as reference 325.