Very uncommonly pierced 1805 Joseph Taylor Georgian sterling silver caddy spoon
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Very uncommonly pierced 1805 Joseph Taylor Georgian sterling silver caddy spoon:
$94.99
We are listing this very rarely seen uncommonly pierced and bright cut decorated little 1805 monogrammed Georgian sterling silver caddy spoon by the Birmingham silversmith Joseph Taylor. Caddy spoons are one of the smallest, most decorative, and most rarely seen pieces of specialized silver used by the Georgian gentry - in this case, to transfer tea leaves to the teapot from the tea caddy (box), when tea was an extremely rare and valuable commodity. The original caddy spoons from the Orient were frequently small shells which fit in the tea caddy, which is why the English silver ones are commonly shell shaped with very short handles. This spoon has a less commonly seen oval bowl shape with an unusual bright cut design pierced by cut out star designs, a nicely decorated handle with an ornate cursive monogram at its top, and it is marked on the back of its handle with a duty mark facing right, a lion passant, the Birmingham anchor, the date letter h (used in 1805-1806), and an IT maker\'s mark. This mark was recorded in the 1780s by Birmingham silversmith Joseph Taylor (see page 353 of Jackson\'s Silver & Gold Marks). The reference book on caddy spoons, CADDY SPOONS An Illustrated Guide, notes on page 38 that Taylor was \"most prolific with a range and variety of styles, which for inventive genius, was unparalleled,\" and the book includes pictures of a number of his caddy spoons (although none shaped and decorated exactly like this one). Star shaped piercings are very rarely seen, and among the hundreds of caddy spoons pictured in the book there are only two examples of star shaped piercings - one c1790 from the Netherlands (Plate 88), and the other a shovel shaped spoon by Taylor (Plate 40) which coincidentally was also made in 1805 like the listed piece. The listed spoon is almost 2.5 inches long, has a bowl almost 1.75 inches across, weighs .2 ounces, it is very nicely shaped and very unusually pierced and decorated, and it is in very good condition. Please view the closeup pictures and judge for yourself (the spoon has not been professionally polished). A very unusually decorated very rarely seen little piece of Georgian silver.
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Very uncommonly pierced 1805 Joseph Taylor Georgian sterling silver caddy spoon:
$94.99