Souvenir spoon: Cologne Cathedral
Germany
1890-1910
Measurements
4-1/4 in x 7/8 in x 5/8 in
Materials
Silver with gold wash
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Accession Number
1971.1050
Inscription
“Koln" (Germanic for Cologne) is in relief inside the bowl. An iIlegible maker’s mark is on the underside of the bowl near the handle opposite an "800" mark.
Provenance
Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner
Comments
The spoon depicts Cologne Cathedral in Cologne (or Koln), Germany, begun in 1248. After a long hiatus, construction continued in 1842 and finally completed in 1880. The huge twin towers create the largest cathedral façade in the world.
The spoon bears similarities to no. 1031 in Dorothy T; Rainwater and Donna H. Felger, Spoons from Around the World (1992). The authors identify that spoon as "Crescent and Crown," a German hallmarking system introduced in 1888 that required silver to be at least 80% pure. This spoon appears to have the requisite "800" mark.
