Early Silver Trefid Spoon, 1669 by John King

This is a fine, early example of a silver trefid spoon and made by the best spoonmaker of the period.

Dating from the first decade of Charles II's reign, this good quality spoon is engraved to the reverse terminal with original "AF" ownership initials. Although there is a touch of thinning to the bowl tip, the overall condition of the spoon is very good with an antique patina present. The long rattail to the reverse of the bowl is indicative of a major design change in spoonmaking with John King, the maker of this spoon, at the vanguard - this spoon displays a very early example.

Trefid spoons were first introduced in the 1660's and were the first spoon type to have none of the hallmarks marked inside the bowl. This spoon has four clear London hallmarks to the underside of the stem and in line with puritan spoons and other early trefid spoons, the date letter is located towards the stem-end. Interestingly, the date letter on this spoon is very rarely encountered (presumably silver production was at a low ebb) and is a fine example of the complex, Gothic-style letter "M".

The maker's mark is a clear "IK over a rose with pellets" for John King who had been apprenticed to William Cary in 1653 and was one of the most important spoonmakers of the 17th century, not least because he taught a large number of other late 17th century spoonmakers: Adam King, Thomas Allen and Lawrence Jones among them.

 All-in-all an interesting and good-looking spoon!