Featured Silver Spoon Hobby Painting Time Period

I found this unremarkable silver plate tea spoon with the most amazingly detailed little painting on it. All this art on a 2"x1 1/2" curved surface. A Google search as to when this was a "thing" brought pages and pages of spoons, but no answers. I thought I would ask you all if anyone knows when this was something people did as a hobby. I bought this for my spooner (which is getting quite crowded.) The spoon is a Carlton Silver Plate.

 

That is delightful Kiko! Needs a special place of honor.

 

Thank you. I was immediately attracted to it. I have other places that I can put it in that would show it better.

 

I've never seen these/ Not a clue about when it was "a thing." Also wondering how they get the paint to adhere firmly to the spoon surface.

 

I didn’t think about that. It looks like enamel paint but I really don’t know. Maybe they etched it before the paint.

 

I expect it's very fragile. But it is cool.

 

I can put it in a display box to protect it.

 

Delightful, Kiko.
Maybe @DragonflyWink can tell you more.

 

Great minds. I was just going to ask for her help

 

In theory, could have been done any time after the spoon was produced (from what I can see, probably a '20s-'30s pattern), but can remember seeing quite a few painted spoons when I was selling in a crafts mall in the '80s, usually the same artists who were doing rustic paintings on saw blades, etc. - likely oil paint, bowl might have been sanded or etched, or just a metal primer. Some of those I remember were left intact like yours (there were larger spoons done too), some were drilled or the stem bent over for hanging (there were always some on the mall tree at Christmas), and can even remember a few with the stems bent into a sort of easel so the bowl was upright - feel sure there are still spoons being painted by 'upcyclers', and of course, spoons with fired enamel bowls were popular souvenirs...

~Cheryl

 

You are absolutely terrific! I love your knowledge. It must be difficult for you to see a perfectly good spoon be tortured in this way. I'm unlikely to find a fired enamel spoon where I look, so this is possibly the next closest thing. Thank you.

 

I like it, without the painting, which is nicely done, it's just a rather ordinary old silverplate spoon, if my eyesight wasn't so bad anymore, might consider doing one myself (and enameled spoons can turn up in all sorts of places).

Just to share a bit from my collection, these are Norwegian wooden spoons, the length typical for eating at 7", but these were decorated with pokerwork and painted scenes for souvenirs - probably early 20th century...




~Cheryl

 

You did a good thing in rescuing it! And I have many modest spoons, they only have to 'speak' to me in some way.

My wooden spoons are mostly Scandinavian, with several Welsh love spoons too, and a variety from elsewhere that just appeal to me, quite a few without much age - a few of my Norwegian spoons have a decent value, but I'm cheap and generally get outbid if something good shows up on eBay...

How are these for folk art? My apologies if you've already seen them. They're probably a bit earlier than the painted ones, the large one is uncommon, it's over 15" long and dated '1900' (I love the checked handle) - their decoration is 'kolrosing', the tip of a knife used to incise the design, something like ground bark or coal dust rubbed in to darken the lines, then oiled.







~Cheryl

 

Those are wonderful! You can see how loving they were created, I suppose during long Scandinavian winters. I too love that checkered handle. So precise and detailed. A skilled piece of art. In 1900, so done by candlelight perhaps.