Three Glorious Antique Treen Spoons
I thought I would share with you images of these three small antique treen spoons that I recently came across., measuring in length from 11 cm for the smallest up to 16 cm for the longest one.
They are significant spoons in that two of them are dated which helps give us a guide in dating other spoons.
The smallest spoon, on the right hand side, although not dated has an inscribed cross to the handle and on the back R + A.S, very tactile and probably dates from the early 1700's..
The middle sized antique treen spoon, on the left hand side, is similar in shape to one in the book Treen for the Table, page 120, it has a great crusty surface with WH to the top of the handle and some carving at the top,, to the reverse side is that all important date 1737.. Possibly for a child.
The largest spoon, in the middle, with chip carved handle is a Welsh one, again similar to the one in Treen for the Table, rat tailed with the initials KR and the date 1797.
All three of these antique treen spoons look like they were made from sycamore which was used to make a lot for spoons and bowls because the wood didn't taint food and was suppose to have some anti bacterial properties.
Antique treen spoons are a fascinating field to study and collect ranging from the Love Spoons given as love tokens, to the every day Cawl spoon, the Invalid spoons with their unique shaped bowl/handle to simple Broth spoons. to name a few. But just one small added feature found on a spoon , can lift it from a spoon found relatively easily to a rare specimen.
