Rare Baluster Knop Spoon, 1560

An extremely rare example of an early Elizabethan baluster knop spoon with an excellent set of hallmarks for a known spoon maker. The spoon is in generally fine condition. The knop is original, in crisp condition and shows the expected "V" notch join on both sides of the stem. The bowl is fig-shaped, however it has lost it's leading front edge and has a slightly squared-off appearance to the bowl - we are able to forgive this after 450 years of use! The stem marks are excellent and fully legible. The bowl mark is a little more rubbed, but is easily recognisable. The reverse of the bowl is engraved with early 18th century betrothal initials.

Baluster knop spoons are very scarce and few examples still exist. This spoon is a great find! Mostly they date from the mid-16th century and the knop of this spoon appears to be typical of those found from the period: it is identical in form to documented examples. Three photos below show the spoon in comparison to an example from 1554 that is featured in How's great tome "English & Scottish Silver Spoons and Pre-Elizabethan Hallmarks". A similar spoon by the same maker is illustrated as figure 5 on page 8 of "London Silver Spoonmakers 1500 - 1697" by Tim Kent.

The maker's mark is a bird's claw - see Jackson's page 94 (Pickford edition). This mark has been attributed with some certainty by Piers Percival as the mark of Francis Jackson (a jackdaw's claw). Jackson was a specialist spoon maker of some quality working between 1556 and 1574. From our researches, he appears to have been the major producer of extant baluster knops.