Queen's Pattern Silver Runcible Spoon, 1886

This is a super example of an antique silver runcible spoon (aka pickle or chutney spoon or spork) in the highly sought after Queen's pattern. 

This Victorian spoon was made one of the most important specialist spoonmakers of the 19th century, Francis Higgins and is in excellent original condition with crisp double-struck decoration (i.e. on both sides of the stem). It has the further benefit of bearing an original engraved crest to the front terminal.

The runcible spoon appears in two works by Edward Lear: The Owl & The Pussy Cat ("They dined on mince and slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon") and Twenty-Six Nonsense Rhymes and Pictures ("The Dolomphious Duck, who caught Spotted Frogs for her dinner with a Runcible Spoon").