Featured Dutch cream spoons (roomlepels) aka 'monkey spoons'...

A few weeks ago a member of a silver discussion group asked me to provide information on the 'monkey spoon' story since I've been gathering it for over twenty years - thought I'd share it here as well.

When I was an active dealer, I sold quite a few of these eccentric Dutch spoons over the years, usually called 'monkey spoons' in the US, they're actually cream spoons, but will admit to including the term as a keyword when selling, the misidentification is just so widespread. These are the four that remain in my collection:









The first two are wrought, without cast handles and elements - the first has an 1871 date mark, 2nd standard lion (.833), Minerva-head w/'F' (Leeuwarden), the maker's mark looks like '10' or '18' over 'R'; the second has an 1892 date mark, 2nd standard lion (.833), Minerva-head w/'F' (Leeuwarden), the maker's mark is obscured; the third bears Hanau pseudo-marks attributed to Neresheimer, 1898 London import marks for John George Smith; the fourth has a 2nd standard lion (.833), maker's mark is 'JPN' over '1', used 1899/1900 by J.P. Niekerk (Schoonhoven), the other marks likely covered by an old repair.


Dutch cream spoons (roomlepels) date back to the mid-late 18th century. The 'monkey spoon' story here in the US seemed to start from 19th century articles on the New York Dutch that included mention of only a single 1749 funeral where eight pallbearers were given 'monkey spoons' - various suppositions regarding these particular spoons were written through the 19th and into the mid 20th century, guessing they might be apostle spoons with unclear detail and perhaps a distortion of 'monk-spoon', or a skull (not uncommon on memento mori spoons) that resembled a monkey head, and other theories.





There were a number of references for years, and then an 1890 magazine article, starting with an anecdotal reference to a Dutch silver dealer, and an embellished story, showed illustrations of roomlepels as 'monkey spoons' (prior to this article, the various features like the hooked handles, decorative elements, scenic bowls, etc. don't appear to have been mentioned elsewhere), this article was referenced in later publications. The article was cited in Stutzenberger's 'American Historical Spoons' (1971), and Rainwater, an excellent researcher (without the internet!!!), but not infallible, also placed the dubious information in her 'Spoons Around the World' (1976), the story became more widespread, and it's also been on an error filled website for many years, plus online sales descriptions, so it just keeps spreading. The 'monkey spoons' mentioned at the 1749 funeral were much more likely similar to those in the 1937 Yale article I've posted below.









To accept the 'monkey spoon' story, one would have to believe that the Dutch are completely mistaken in their knowledge regarding these spoons, and since the story originated with the account of a 1749 American funeral, American silversmiths would have to be producing these spoons before or around the earliest possible time they might have appeared in the Netherlands, and if so, seems some might be found with American maker's marks, or at least fully described, but they just don't seem to exist. The numerous examples of roomlepels found typically have proper Dutch hallmarks, and since 'historical' pieces also became popular tourist items in the late 19th-early 20th centuries, they're commonly found bearing pseudo-marks, both Dutch and Hanau, and British import marks as well.


~Cheryl

 

Here's a link to a Dutch blog with some brief information, an image of the English translation is included, and a few other bits:


https://antiekenzilver.nl/roomlepels/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEvEjJleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSKtYEpwzdlZo8uXjl-




















~Cheryl

 

Beautiful and diverse collection, and impressive research, Cheryl. Thank you for sharing.

The style of that one is typically Frisian. (As your know Leeuwarden is the capital of Friesland.)

It does look very Hanau. Still, good to have it in the collection, there is clearly a link.

The Niekerk one is lovely, and it brings your spoons and your mother's swan collection together.

 

Is it possible that 'monkey spoon' arose from the resemblance of the curled handle to the tail of a prehensile monkey? That, or the way they clung to the rim of the bowl like a monkey? (I'm imagining that they had an actual use as tableware, not just as memento mori.)

 

yes, indeed, thank you Dragon for sharing .........

 

Thanks, AJ!

The 1871 spoon was the only one kept from all I'd had over the years, I love it. The other Frisian spoon was acquired fairly recently, couldn't resist since it had a swan and clearly had to be added to Mom's Hanau and Niekerk swan spoons...


~Cheryl

 

The 'monkey spoon' term is American, originally mentioned in the account of only one 1749 New York Dutch funeral (roomlepels most likely dated no earlier than at least a couple of decades later) - it was not until the Dutch cream spoons were illustrated as 'monkey spoons' in an 1890 magazine article that any image was shown, prior to that there were only guesses as to what those pallbearer gift spoons looked like.

They do have a use, they're cream spoons - and I haven't found indication that they were ever intended for use as memento mori spoons, though those definitely exist...


~Cheryl

 

@Any Jewelry I've meant ask you about something for years - about 20 years ago, a well-known Dutch silver expert, when giving correct ID on a roomlepel in Silver Magazine, and in response to an American's incorrect ID, also responded to a typical part of the 'monkey spoon' story about 'zuiging de monky', stating he'd never heard of anything like it.

It was referenced in the error-filled 1890 article, and I've clipped and enlarged for you to please take a look at, and ask if you might know if there's any basis at all for what's written:



Thanks!

~Cheryl

 

Wonderful information. Always learning on here ! Thank you Cheryl !

 

An amazing thread, filled with many bits of arcana...all new an' fresh to me. Possibly the best I've had the pleasure of reading since I joined...an' that includes quite a few real corkers! Thank you, Cheryl, very much!

 

Neither have I, and it can't be a Dutch expression because it is a mix of Dutch and English. I wonder if it is a New York Dutch expression.

Zuiging is incorrect Dutch, it should be zuigen. Zuigen does mean sucking.
The Dutch word for monkey is aap.
Also the word order isn't Dutch. "Sucking the monkey" would be "(aan) de aap zuigen". But again, I have never heard of it.

I checked various sites with Dutch sayings, including dialect sayings, but no luck.
I also checked Frisian sites because Frisian is often regarded as a language in between Dutch and English. But no results there either. Besides, the Frisian word for monkey is also aap, the Frisian word for 'sucking' is 'sȗgje' or 'sȗchje'.
Since the expression is a hotchpotch of English and Dutch, maybe try sites with New York Dutch sayings?

 

Heh, thank you, just more nonsense from the author, making up a Dutch phrase - suspect she made up quite a bit in her article, though she does say that she consulted authorities "with meagre success", as they indicated they were unfamiliar with 'monkey spoons'. Suppose if no one is familiar with something you can just manufacture your own little story...

So far as I know, 'sucking the monkey' is an old British term, referring to sailor's use of a straw to steal from a keg or draining a coconut, then filling it with rum, drinking surreptitiously through a straw. I have some bits about 'sucking the monkey' in my files, will hunt them up and post in a bit.

~Cheryl

 

We would call that a "broodje aap verhaal" literally a monkey sandwich story, a nonsense story.

 

An 1841 illustration:




An excerpt from Marryat's novel 'Peter Simple' (1834):




An 1896 article:




From 'A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant Embracing English, American, and Anglo-Indian Slang, Pidgin English, Gypsies' Jargon and Other Irregular Phraseology' (1897):




From Isil's 'When a Loose Cannon Flogs a Dead Horse There's the Devil to Pay: Seafaring Words in Everyday Speech' (1996):




~Cheryl

 

" away , away , with Fife & Drum
Here we come
full o' rum.
Looking for women to tickle our bum,
in the North Atlantic Squadron...."

The 1st mates name was Carter.............




( with all this talk of rum.......my mind wandered to the way back machine...)
..

Sorry, please continue this wonderful thread.....

 

How interesting and how beautiful, thank you for sharing!

In my ignorance, I would have assumed the shorter-handled cream spoons were tea caddy spoons.

 

Here are some actual 17th and 18th century American funeral or memento mori spoons:













~Cheryl

 

The first two look like Dutch commemorative spoons, which are also made for baptims, marriages etc.

 

Of course, the same made by American Dutch silversmiths, the engraved names/initials and dates like on the last three spoons in my last post are what make them funeral or memento mori spoons. The first three spoons in the last post are from a 1970 book featuring the same Yale University collection referenced in the first post's 1937 article on "Dutch-New York Spoons", and it mentions that the Bohlen spoon was probably a wedding or christening gift (in last post because it mentions use of similar as memento mori, should have noted that).

~Cheryl