Armorial Engraved Rattail Table Spoon, 1771

This is a fine quality Georgian silver table spoon made by the lady silversmith Elizabeth Tookey.

It has a good solid weight and unusually for a spoon is engraved with a crisp coat-of-arms to the reverse terminal (generally only the crest would be engraved with larger hollowware items bearing a full armorial). Unusually for the early George III period, the spoon is in the Hanoverian Rattail pattern which is generally associated with early 18th century silver, so presumably this spoon was made to order and perhaps augmented an existing service or replaced a missing item. The spoon is in superb, antique condition with a good, thick bowl tip and attractive original patina. 

Elizabeth Tookey was the widow of the specialist spoonmaker James Tookey and this spoon is stamped with a good example of her "ET" mark within a widow's lozenge. According to Grimwade in "London Goldsmiths 1687-1837", James and Elizabeth had a son Thomas who was apprenticed to his father in 1766 "to learn the art of a spoonmaker". James Tookey presumably died during his son's apprenticeship and so Elizabeth took over the running of the business until 1773 when Thomas became free and entered his first mark at Goldsmiths Hall on 30th October.