Puritan Spoon, 1651 by Steven Venables

This is a fabulous quality Commonwealth period silver puritan spoon with a good solid feel in the hand. Puritan spoons can vary widely in their quality, size and condition, this one is a winner on all counts (n.b there is a stress flaw from original manufacture to the reverse of the bowl adjacent to the V-junction). It has a generous, sized bowl and a long, plank-like handle. The hallmarks are clear with a date letter in typical fashion towards the end of the stem (puritan and slip top spoons were thus marked to prevent unscrupulous silversmiths from adding a seal or apostle terminal). The spoon also bears an engraved betrothal triangle to the end of the handle.

This spoon was made by Steven Venables who was one of the most prolific specialist spoonmakers of the mid-17th century. Silver from this period is very scarce as the spoon was made during the English Civil War, which was a time when large quantities of silver were being melted down to help finance both sides in the war.