In Rarequiste’s warehouse, R often digs out some confusing silverware. They look like torture instruments or medical instruments, but in fact they are just—tableware.
The Victorian era (1837-1901) was the era with the most cumbersome etiquette in Britain. In order not to touch food with fingers, nor to make eating posture look embarrassed, silversmiths opened their minds and invented various “Special Spoons for Special Use”.
🦴 1. Marrow Scoop
This may be the most confusing tableware.
- Appearance: It is usually a long and thin silver rod with grooves on both ends. One end is wide and the other is narrow.
- Use: Specifically used to dig beef marrow. The wide end digs big bones, and the narrow end reaches into thin bones. In that era, roasted beef marrow was a delicacy.
- Status: Although few people eat marrow like this now, it is very handy as a cocktail stick (stirring spoon) and is a favorite of bar lovers.
🍓 2. Berry Spoon
If you see a spoon as big as a soup spoon, but the spoon head is embossed with extremely complex fruit reliefs (strawberries, pineapples, grapes), and the edge is wavy, that is a Berry Spoon.
- Use: Used to serve stewed fruits or fresh berries.
- Remake Secret: Many Berry Spoons are actually “Post-processed”. Shrewd Victorian merchants would recycle plain old spoons from the Georgian era and re-engrave patterns on them to turn them into Berry Spoons to sell at high prices. So, if you see a 1790 hallmark on a fancy spoon, don’t be surprised, this is called “Later Chased”.
☕ 3. Mote Spoon
This is a small spoon with holes, and the end of the handle is usually a sharp needle.
- Use: Early tea leaves were relatively broken, and there would be a lot of foam and tea dregs when brewing tea. The spoon head with holes is used to fish out tea dregs, and the sharp tail is used to unclog the teapot spout blocked by tea leaves.
- Collection: Due to exquisite production and small existing quantity, Mote Spoon is the aristocrat in silver spoon collection, and a small one is often worth hundreds of pounds.
🧀 4. Stilton Scoop
Looks like a small shovel or a deep semi-circular groove.
- Use: Specifically used to “dig” a piece of the softest heart from the center of a huge block of Stilton blue cheese. This was a must-have in gentlemen’s clubs at that time.
Next time you see strange shaped silverware in the flea market, don’t rush to say it is “junk”, it may have witnessed a grand dinner a hundred years ago.
