Antique Welsh Treen Items, take a closer look ......

antique treen sugar tongs

antique treen sugar tongs

Antique Welsh Cawl Spoons

Have a look at these lovely Welsh antique sugar tongs, image 1 and 2, these treen sugar tongs are often thought of as love tokens, probably because they usually have a cut out heart.They were in fact made and given as thank you gifts from the striking miners at the various quarries to people who supported their strikes by donating money weekly. they are sometimes named either with Miss or a Mrs , presumably the donor and/or a date, these ones have the place name 'Llanerchymedd', in a panel They are made from one piece of wood which has been bent, by steam, and has chip carved decoration to both sides.

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Image 3 is of simple Welsh Cawl spoons, these spoons are quite distinctive with a round bowl, each one being slightly different in size, shape, the handle being either flat or tapering to a point, known as a rats tail, supposedly the point was so that you could stick your handle into the peat, in areas of Wales where peat was burnt. Welsh cawl was a stew containing meat and vegetables, hence the need for these rounded shape spoon bowls. These antique Welsh Cawl spoons are a collectors field in their own right with so many subtle differances.