Basket of Flowers Acorn-bowled Silver Mote Spoon, EO

This is a superb and extremely rare example of a George II silver mote spoon with many features of merit.

The spoon has a picture featuring a basket of flowers to the reverse of the acorn-shaped bowl. Mote spoons with acorn-shaped bowls are very rare and the presence of the picture-back enhances it further. The acorn-shape is believed to have a political meaning related to the Jacobites - a reminder of the Boscobel Oak in which Charles II hid during the Civil War but also the oak being the symbol of the Stuarts.

The front of the bowl is appropriately pierced with scrolls and crosslets so that dust motes could be skimmed from the surface of freshly poured tea - tea during the 18th century was carried from the East in wooden chests that were prone to contamination from the environment. The engraved initials "MB" of the original owner are located on the heel of the bowl.

The front of the stem is decorated with engraved foliage and the terminal is in the form of a mitre-shaped spike that would have been employed to poke the teapot spout to remove the build-up of spent tea leaves. This antique spoon is in fine condition throughout.

A major benefit for this spoon is the presence of two legible maker's marks - "EO" - for the lady silversmith Elizabeth Oldfield. She was widow to the spoonmaker Charles Jackson and following his death in 1748 she entered her own mark as Elizabeth Jackson and carried on the family silversmithing business. She subsequently remarried in late 1750 and entered a further mark in her new name as Elizabeth Oldfield. The business flourished for five years and so thus accurately dates this spoon to being made between 1750 and 1755.