Lewes Antique Silver Trefid Spoon, c.1680

This is a good-sized silver trefid spoon from the Sussex town of Lewes with the benefit of being in fine condition.

At 8" in length, it is bigger than the majority of other antique trefid spoons, plus it has a wide and generous bowl complete with rudimentary rattail to the underside. The bulbous trefid terminal is dot-prick engraved to the front "T.B" over "R.C" over "1680", suggesting a marriage spoon and an accurate date of manufacture too. There is a single bowl mark featuring a fleur-de-lys which was used in Lewes by several silversmiths during the 17th century. 

The tip of the bowl is a touch sharp, but otherwise this is an excellent spoon with a good patina.

The Lewes fleur-de-lys town mark is illustrated as figures 28, 32 & 46 in "Sussex Silver & Its Makers" by Tim Kent. There are a number of potential silversmith working in Lewes around 1680 - Richard Dodson, James Emery II, Samuel Emery and Robert Colgate. The engraving to the front terminal of the spoon is unusual as the vast majority of spoons from this period would have been engraved to the reverse side. We currently have a second Lewes spoon in stock (see link below) that was probably made by Samuel Emery during the 1680's that is similarly engraved. It therefore seems plausible that this spoon was made by either of the two Emery brothers - Samuel or James II.