Commonwealth Silver Puritan Spoon, 1655 Stephen Venables

This is a first class example of a scarce London-made, Commonwealth period silver puritan spoon.

Made during the interregnum period when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector, this is a wonderful example of a highly sought after puritan spoon. This example was made by Stephen Venables who was the chief producer of this type of spoon.

Puritan spoons were first introduced in the 1630's and became popular during the Commonwealth period, a fact in combination with their plainness, has given them their name. It was a revolutionary form of spoon most noticeably with a plank-form handle instead of the previous hexagonal profile, plus the bowl shape has flattened out from the older fig-shape, but not quite to the more modern oval form as seen in the later trefid spoon. One of the diagnostic features of both slip tops and puritans is the widening of the stem towards the terminal and a stamped hallmark at the tip to prevent the later fraudulent addition of a cast finial.

This particular spoon portrays all the above mentioned peculiar traits of a puritan spoon and is a perfect example of its type. It has a good, chunky feel in the hand and the bowl retains a pleasing thick rim all the way around. There are engraved betrothal initials to the terminal with the date "1673", so these were presumably the second owners of the spoon (no evidence of any previous erasure).

The condition is outstanding with a clear set of hallmarks. As good as it gets for a puritan spoon!