Silver Sucket Spoon with Scoop, c.1690

This is an extremely rare piece of late 17th century silver - a sucket spoon that instead of having the more typical spoon/fork has a spoon/scoop combination.

This small utensil is in fine condition with the spoon bowl having a rattail to the underside, the scoop being open-ended and the two being joined by a plank-like shank.

Reassuringly for the sake of authenticity, both the central shank and the inside of the scoop are stamped with the same "TN" crowned maker's mark - this is an entirely original piece and has not been altered at a later date! Sucket spoons from the 17th century were very rarely fully marked and often not marked at all, but as yet we haven't manage to ascribe it.

Suckets were a late 17th century delicacy consisting of dried fruit and citrus peels in a sweet syrup. A standard sucket spoon was a fruit eating utensil with two prongs to one end for spearing the fruit and a spoon bowl to the other for scooping up the syrup. The exact purpose of this piece remains a mystery!