What was this spoon used for?

outwest · Post by **outwest** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 12:43 am

It's cute. It's Tiffany. It's bowl has a gold wash. It is about 7 inches long. What the heck was it used for other than to look pretty?

Also, it has a 'P' then a star then an 'S' all in circles above sterling on the bowl back. It looks exactly the same as your encyclopedia mark for Polhamus, but the initials aren't right. Why is that?

Matulda · Post by **Matulda** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 6:38 am

It's what we in Sweden call a "sprinkle spoon", used to sprinkle sugar in an even layer on strawberries or other things. I can't help you with the marks, but the type (with lots of variations, of course) is very common at least in my part of the world. Not all of them has a gold wash on the bowl, though, but it's not unusual.

outwest · Post by **outwest** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:36 am

Thank you so much for your time. I never would have guessed that! I thought it might be a tea strainer, but the bowl wasn't big enough and didn't seem the right shape. Those Victorians certainly thought of everything. Can you imagine sprinkling sugar evenly like that? How funny.

Post by **dragonflywink** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:55 am

It's called a sugar sifter in the U.S. Can't say that I've seen the mark you describe before, but perhaps your mark is from when John Polhamus was in partnership with with George E. Strong (1859-63/64).

Cheryl ;o)

outwest · Post by **outwest** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 5:44 pm

Thank you, too, Cheryl. Your time frame is right from what I know about the original owner. Here is the other mark just because, but I bet you're right:

By the way, the sterling standard wasn't set in the US until 1870, right? Did some of the major manufacturers go with it a little before that then?

Post by **dragonflywink** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 1:01 am

Believe most major makers were using "sterling" by the late 1860s, I have a lovely sterling twisted-stem ladle by William Gale & Son from the early 1860s. I've seen many Tiffany pieces from the 1850s marked "sterling" and/or "925/1000". Could be wrong, but believe that a "legal" sterling standard wasn't in place until the early 1900s, requiring anything marked "sterling" to be 925/1000 and "coin" to be 900/1000.

Cheryl ;o)