Silver spoon

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This silver tablespoon was made in the 1650s by James Simpson, a goldsmith in Edinburgh. The spoon may be unique as this type of design is unrecorded elsewhere.

The stem is square in section and crudely decorated with zigzag pattern ending in a neck-band resembling three courses of brickwork. At the top is a roughly-incised 'Union-Jack' type of cross.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-082-004-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  A.1958.43
• Date: 1650s
  1651 - 1659
  
• Material: Silver. Inscription: On lower back of handle: IS [a pellet between]; castle; IF [a pellet between]; on back of bowl: S[ir] / G M / D[ame] / A S
  Spoon, tablespoon
  
• Dimensions: 190 mm max L; bowl 55 mm W
  
• What: Spoon, tablespoon
  
• Subject:
• Who: James Fairbairne (Assay master)
  James Symontoun (Maker)
  
• Where: Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh
  
• Event:
• Description: Silver tablespoon by James Symontoun, Edinburgh, 1651 - 1653 or 1657 - 1659, scratch-engraved on the back of the bowl with contemporary initials 'S(ir) G M D(ame) A S'
  
• References:
  • Jackson, p. 542 - 543 
• Translations:
• Related Records: