Trefid Spoon with Engraved Rattail, Exeter c.1689

This is a fabulous West Country silver trefid Spoon bearing the marks of both maker and retailer, Thomas Foote and Edward Spicer and with the major bonus of being a documented spoon (see below).

The most interesting feature of the spoon is the engraved rat-tail to the reverse of the bowl, which is a most unusual feature and no doubt meant to simulate the rat-tail that had become fashionable in London. The reverse terminal bears original dot-pricked betrothal initials "MT" over "FC". The spoon is in excellent condition.

This spoon is illustrated and discussed in "Silver Spoons of Britain:1200 - 1710" by David Constable Vol II number 122 (pages 640/1) and as figure 46 (page 22) of "West Country Silver Spoons & Their Makers" by Tim Kent. A similar spoon with engraved rattail is described within the Thomas Foote biography on page 89 of the latter book.