Featured Unusual silver and mother of pearl spoons...

Some time ago ran across a lovely sterling spoon with mother of pearl stem, parcel gilt, the figural finial of the Statue of Liberty left silver save for the flame - had never seen one like it, but unfortunately it sold for about twice my highest bid. Recently found this pair with a 'Best Offer' option, seller accepted my first offer and I'm thrilled to add them to my collection. Both marked only 'Sterling', the 4.5" eagle spoon with the shell bowl is fully gilt, but the 5" long other, like the first one I saw, is parcel gilt, the finial left silver - it's a depiction of Suñol’s 'Colombus' in Central Park, dedicated in 1894, a bronze version of the artist's 1886 marble sculpture in Madrid.

~Cheryl

 

Sensational! And what a sweet outcome.

 

What great pieces. Thanks for sharing!

 

Beautiful!

 

Lovely! And lucky

 

Magnifique!

 

GORGEOUS!!

 

Congratulations, Cheryl, they are absolutely gorgeous, and you deserve them.

 

In the Plaza de Colón (which is, of course, Spanish for Columbus.)

Debora

 

Beautiful spoons !!! .. eye candy ... Joy.

 

Nice find......specially when it's something you're looking for !!!!

 

Cheryl, those are gorgeous - I've not seen any quite like them before. I'm especially fond of the eagle spoon... What lovely detail!

I'm so glad you were able to get them - and thanks for sharing!

 

Well, this makes three I've seen - awfully well done to bear no maker's marks. The eagle is really nice, and I'm a sucker for a shell bowl, but that dainty garland winding around the stem on the Columbus spoon is just so pretty...

~Cheryl

 

For me, it was the shell bowl and the eagle v. that vine garland - I had to go with the former, since a bird tipped the scale over Columbus!

 

I have several spoons with shell/mother of pearl bowls, as well as a number of the ubiquitous pearl-handled serving pieces, but this one is from my Mom's salt spoon collection. It's 2-7/8" long, surmounted by a tiny gilt brass rendition of Seurre's 1833 statue of Napoleon - more common to see the bit larger items like letter openers, bookmarks, pens, etc., often including a Stanhope with views of Napoleon, his tomb, etc. (even the small salt/condiment spoons sometimes have a Stanhope), the metal usually described as brass or bronze, a few are gilt, but most display remnants of silverplating, though occasionally the plating is intact. They're usually said to date to the 19th century, but believe they're more likely early 20th century - suppose they could be earlier and made for a few decades, but have seen a few stamped with 'Musée de l'Armée', that name for the Army Museum at Les Invalides in Paris dating no earlier than 1905, and the Seurre statue wasn't placed there until 1911, it's also the location of Napoleon's tomb.





~Cheryl

 

Oh, I missed this thread earlier. Beautiful spoons! Thanks for sharing that portion of your collection, Cheryl.

 

Thanks, Fig!

~Cheryl