Rare set of 11 (6 + 3 + 1 + 1) Britannia silver dognose spoons with upturned wavy end terminals, the bowls with 

molded rattail attachments, each crested alike with contemporary arms depicting a demi-lion rampant, in paw a

 scimitar, below three mullets, within an oval and mantle surmounted by a helmet

Marks: Good to excellent

Some date and Britannia marks rubbed but legible

Lawrence Jones (6) - Grimwade #3665, JO with crown above and star below

Lewis Mettayer (3) - Grimwade # 2018, ME in a shaped punch with 2 devices above

Joseph Barbut (1) - Grimwade # 119, BA beneath a crown surmounted by a sun (Huguenot maker)

Philip Roker II (1) - #2398, RO beneath a crown and above a flower (apprenticed to Barbut) (George I)

Condition: Excellent

Note: Mettayer was an important Huguenot maker, the brother-in-law of, and apprenticed to David Willaume I.

  Provenance for the 1 Mettayer, Barbut and Roker : How of Edinburgh.

Each 8” Long; 24.9 oz. total weight

#5421

 SOLD

BRITISH SILVER SPOON SETS

Sets of spoons are quite rare in the early 18th century.   

The use of  spoon-like utensils goes back to pre-history.  Earliest spoons were probably shells -

the word spoon deriving from the Anglo-Saxon word spon, meaning sliver of wood. 

The earliest found silver British spoon dates to the

Anglo-Saxon period (499-1060) and resides in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.  From the 1500's,

single silver spoons were  often given at birth to the wealthy as a lifetime utensil. 

These were carried about on the person when traveling - through a slit in the hat or perhaps in a "cutlery pouch" suspended from the waist - a practice common even into the early 18th century.  (See illustration below, c1620). If one forgot his/her utensils, the "house spoon" of wood of pewter might be supplied by the inn or host.

In the 16th and early 17th century, a royal or extremely wealthy newborn might be recipient of a

small "set" of apostle spoons at christening; however, even those were given by multiple sponsors,

the sponsorship being limited to 3 in the second half of the 16th century. 

A complete set of apostle spoons would comprise 13 spoons - 12 apostles and one master spoon.

Few complete such complete sets still exist, and usually reside in museums. 

Small silver dessert sets were introduced in the mid-1690's, usually in sets of 6, both in the trefid

and dognose (wavy-end) patterns.  In the Queen Anne period (1703-14), although most spoons were

still ordered in singles or pairs, some small sets were ordered - usually still in sets of 6. 

These were added to as needed. 

It is interesting to note that dinner silver forks with three tines were not introduced until the Queen Anne period.

The earlier clergy contended that God gave people fingers for eating. 

The "sherbet course" was introduced at this time, not to clear the palette, as commonly thought,

but for the washing of the single fork. (Knives were ordered from "haft makers",

and not included with sets of silver until the late 18th century).

Although sets of 12 utensils (forks or spoons) were ordered from c1720 forward,

the complete set of silver flatware, as we know

it today, did not come about until c1760.  Even early Georgian Hanoverian sets are quite rare.

The presented Britannia set is exceptional, both in existence and in condition, all with arms en suite,

and without tip wear. The dating is Queen Anne, with one addition in 1721 (George I) by Philip Roker II,

who was apprenticed to Barbut, maker of the earliest of these spoons in 1703.

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Rare Set 11 Queen Anne Britannia Silver Dognose (Wavy-End) Tablespoons, crested en suite with a crowned demi-lion rampant