Featured A couple of new spoons...

I'm amazed that Andersen spoon survived its ordeal. Happy, but surprised. It seems to have found a good place to land.

I'd give up on the kids wanting "stuff", but the grandkids on the other hand ... I bet that five year-old likes pretty stuff!

 

Yah.....to each his / her own
ya...love yer kids
ya..who needs more stress...

but NO....

you deserve the respect for your choices.....

"Meanwhile, my son thinks they're "stupid" and his wife calls them "clutter"."

& that...that's just mean !!!
And we're talking spoons...right...just spoons.......little spoons........

So , I can't help but wonder what they say behind your back....about important stuff !!

Sorry SBSVC....but I call it like I see it..........& you deserve better !

 

The Nordic Swans brooches were in production well past WWII, and the Danish poem below was sometimes included with them:


The Nordic Swans (Swans from the North)
written by Hans Hartvig Seedorff Pedersen for Nordic Day, 1936
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

They once settled on the coast of the North,
five wild swans, clad in silver plumage.
A touch of dawn stained their chests,
before the sun even put out its red flame.
The last fog is gone, a mighty dome,
with clouds of mountain splendor over the foam of waves,
lowering its azure into the deep waters,
There, swung in the young, bright countries of the North.

Then the first swan broke into song:
Here sisters, I want to live and build nests.
My mind is one with Zealand's clover grass
and the honey scent of the Jutland heath.
So beautiful is the land - the measure of my wings -
where the water lily with its pale bowl,
anchored in the dark currents of a lake,
lifts against me its swan dreams.

But then Denmark, greeted by birdsong,
lay white and still on the silent lake,
then the swan Sweden spoke to her sister:
Here - as you - I dream, live, die!
My birch should range to your broad beech,
and Zealand's lark responds to Skåne's cuckoo.
And separated by the waves and the salty winds,
however, the moon's bridge shall connect us.

And the swan flew. But on its flight to the east,
it was followed by a pair of brave wings.
When you land, Finland's voice whispered,
to one among a thousand lakes I swing above.
And winter lays, icy and steep,
its white breath over the lake's mirror:
Here the wind meets the crown of the pine,
a swan shower of Kalevala's notes.

Back sat the last beautiful birds.
It was as if they were listening to sea-born song.
They heard distant Atlantic and North Sea cool,
strike against a coast whose flowers were only seaweed.
They saw, in the foam of the wild weather,
two nesting places on a rocky shore...
Then Norway lifted itself against the wind and wave,
and stood to the north, with Iceland in its wake.

And a thousand years went by, they met again,
the wild swans under the north coast,
in the rush of the wind whose hands smooth
the hard mountain and the soft breast of the bird.
They still roared with swan courage,
though the feathers of their wings bore splashes of dried blood.
They had fought, raised themselves in anger,
they had been bleeding for the right to nest.

But washed away again was the red.
And mightily throughout the Day of the North,
the high rush of five pairs of swan wings,
that sounded together as one harp stroke.
Five fates sang in the full sounds
of victory and defeat, of sorrow and joy.
Yet as if every desire and round of pain
was felt and cradled with one single heart.

The first nesting site was never forgotten.
When the storm chases through birch and spruce,
and the fog dampens the buoy's bell,
then they meet again, the bright swans.
And the sun's red rim is half raised,
behind cold clouds and steel blue water,
as a sign of light above the ground sail five free birds –
The Swans from the North!


~Cheryl

 

Magnussen was a gifted designer, his pieces made by Gorham are quite wonderful: https://www.google.com/search?q=erik+magnussen+"gorham"&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj3kKiRt8_oAhVpWDABHdZ7DcUQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=erik+magnussen+"gorham"&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECAAQHlCupgJY6LsCYO2-AmgAcAB4AIAB8gGIAY0DkgEFMC4xLjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZw&sclient=img&ei=69WIXrfvI-mwwbkP1ve1qAw


His 1907 silver and coral 'Grasshopper' brooch:




My only other Magnussen spoon, a heavy 7.75" long, 1919 souvenir of the Danish town of 'FANØ':




~Cheryl

 

Oh that poem it beautiful, glad I asked Grasshopper is great as is that spoon!

 

Just arrived, a trio of Norwegian plique-à-jour demitasse spoons, all engraved 'Amelia' by the same hand - the rainbow-hued with turquoise raised enamel 'stone' in the center, is by David Andersen; the orange and red flower with green background is by Jacob Tostrup; and the little red flowers on clear background is by Marius Hammer.







Also new is a sturdy 6.5" late Meiji spoon with applied elements, including a dragonfly (not always easy to find on spoons) - it joins some other fairly recent finds, a 4.25" dragon bowl spoon with touches of enamel, topped by a little frog (have 10 of these); and two 3" leaf motif salt spoons.




~Cheryl

 

Thanks, was rather charmed by Amelia's pretty souvenirs - and must admit to being a bit envious of your bright-cut salt shovel...

~Cheryl

 

Is it bright-cut or just engraved,impossible to tell since it has been polished.

 

It's a 200 year old bright-cut spoon - by its appearance, as well as history of the style, it was the technique used...

~Cheryl

 

Hehe, not butting in - to me, threads are like a conversation, sometimes they stick to a specific subject, but the best often interestingly meander off on various tangents (not that they can't also degrade into unpleasantness...)

~Cheryl

 

Maybe it's a terminology issue,it is not a style but whether the graver is polished or not when the cuts are made...... https://www.engravingschool.com/private/Bright Cut Engraving.htm

 

To be clear - I was referring to the 'Old English Bright-cut' style of the spoon, 'technique' was the term I used for how those typical short, angled cuts were done on this style spoon, no doubt with a well-polished graver, and resulting in what was originally a 'bright' reflective effect.


This is from Pickford's 'Silver Flatware: English, Irish and Scottish 1660-1980' (1983), similar information can be found in references dating back to the 19th century:




~Cheryl