Souvenir spoon: gold

1906 date letter

Maker

Cornelius Desormeaux Saunders and James Francis Hollings (1885-1921)

Measurements

4-1/4 in x 7/8 in x 1/2 in

Materials

Gold

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.1119

Provenance

Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner

Comments

This solid gold spoon bears a Birmingham maker's touchmark, assay marks, and a date letter for 1906.  The spoon itself reproduces the shape and decoration of the so-called Coronation Spoon, used to anoint English, and later British, sovereigns during a coronation ceremony.  That spoon predates 1349, when it was first recorded.  It is held in the Tower of London.