Dessert sized Irish Marrow Spoon, 1770

This is a very scarce Irish combination silver marrow spoon and scoop, made by the premier specialist flatware maker Christopher Skinner. Another interesting feature of this spoon is that it is of dessert spoon size rather than the more frequently encountered table spoon size. There are original engraved script initials to the reverse of the scoop and three clear hallmarks to the central shank. This very rare piece is in excellent original condition.

The shank is punched with the three appropriate marks for this size of spoon. The date letter was not necessary on dessert spoons and so is omitted from the punches, however an approximate date of manufacture can be gleaned from the marks that do exist. The period can be first narrowed down by the working period of Christopher Skinner (maker's mark "CS" with a five point star above and below) - 1739 to 1780. From the research on Dublin hallmarks carried out by Ticher, Delamer and O'Sullivan, the Hibernia can be recognised by the pleat in the skirt and so conforms to plate U (1758-66 & 1770/71) in the pamphlet produced by the National Museum of Ireland. The presence of script initials would suggest one of the later dates and so circa 1770 would be an accurate dating for this piece.