Seal Top Spoon, 1603 Cawdell

Dating from the first year of the reign of King James I, this is a first class example of finely decorated seal top spoon. The spoon has a goof fig-shaped bowl , hexagonal stem and excellent example of a gilt seal terminal.

The flat terminal bears dot pricked "AP" initials over the date "1604", whilst the reverse of the bowl has an excellent betrothal triangle above the date "1604" and engraved within an inverted heart-shape. Presumably the giver of the spoon was "AP" and the newlyweds the recipients for their marriage in 1604.

William Cawdell was one of the most prolific spoonmakers of the late Tudor and early Stuart periods and this spoon is one of his trademark pieces dating from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods. It has a first class set of hammarks including his distinctive "C" enclosing a "W" maker's mark and date letter for 1603.

The spoon is in fabulous condition with just one very shallow, small bruise to the deep of the bowl. An excellent spoon!