A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

[timekiller]

A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

Took the day off and went MDing.Had found a new site and wanted to hit it.So I Did.Came up with some first for me.And some I don't even know what they are.All needs a better cleaning just done a quick soap and water deal.Here they are till I get them cleaned better.
Enjoy,
Timekiller!

 

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[timekiller]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

That's a very nice bottle and ring up top but I really can't believe they made it before this.

Maybe they're waiting for the other half. We all know the other half is out there. You really need to find it.

I'm not saying the bottle and ring don't deserve to be there, They are both banner finds IMO.

Randy

I know friend what your saying but I've been down this road before with them.I staying cool this time not worth me getting all worked up about.Same deal there with Iron Patch Makes me feel bad but It's not in my hand the forum.But the mold is and that my friend is what counts.I hope I can find it tomorrow.Thanks RPG. Will see!

I am wishing you luck in finding the other half, Pete! You'll at least be busy digging Spanish cut silvers and King George coppers tomorrow! There very well may be another 1700s two skillings, too!

Man, I sure hope this "find the other half" idea can get nipped in the bud and doesn't become some prerequisite for appreciating the enormity of this find. The other half may be found, or it may not be. It doesn't really matter in a situation like this when "half" is far more than the vast majorities of "wholes".

I agree but I really hope the other half is found. This is a great historical find and it would be nice to see the two pieces reunited. I would think a relic of that size (if in the same vicinity) could be found. Should sound like a beer can from a foot deep.

Right on this one did and was almost that deep.But boy this ground this stuff is coming from is hard as a brick bat.Need a Jackhammer No lie!

 

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[timekiller]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

Found another usefull link Pete, your pattern might be here perhaps B

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/bessdarnley/Spoon.pdf

SS

Boy that is a Super site that time SS, and it does help me understand the types thanks much on this one. Your Good Friend! Great Help!

 

[Rusted_Iron]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

I was first going to say c. 1680-1720, but it would appear the acorn top spoon design was popular c. 1400-1650 or so. Since early folks threw nothing away, and they were no where near as fickle as modern consumers, they had every reason to carry a perfectly good spoon mold with them on a voyage. I would imagine they were pretty expensive in their day.

Be sure to take a photo of the dig site, print it out, and write down as much info about the digging location as you can. Keep it with the mold always. You've got some real history here.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

Be sure to take a photo of the dig site, print it out, and write down as much info about the digging location as you can. Keep it with the mold always. You've got some real history here.

Absolutely.

 

[CRUSADER]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

I was first going to say c. 1680-1720, but it would appear the acorn top spoon design was popular c. 1400-1650 or so. Since early folks threw nothing away, and they were no where near as fickle as modern consumers, they had every reason to carry a perfectly good spoon mold with them on a voyage. I would imagine they were pretty expensive in their day.

Be sure to take a photo of the dig site, print it out, and write down as much info about the digging location as you can. Keep it with the mold always. You've got some real history here.

Agreed. A cheap GPS would be the best bet

I don't understand your Laws but this needs a Museum/Pewter Spoon experts opinion. Either one would pop their eyes out on this one.

This IS breaking News - This is one of those rare moments we are all lucky to be involved in, &......the banner bust.

 

[pjroo33]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

I was first going to say c. 1680-1720, but it would appear the acorn top spoon design was popular c. 1400-1650 or so. Since early folks threw nothing away, and they were no where near as fickle as modern consumers, they had every reason to carry a perfectly good spoon mold with them on a voyage. I would imagine they were pretty expensive in their day.

Be sure to take a photo of the dig site, print it out, and write down as much info about the digging location as you can. Keep it with the mold always. You've got some real history here.

And then send the BOLD information to me via email
.
.
.
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Still hoping this gets on the BANNER!!!!!

 

[Kirk PA]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

Pete,

Good luck today, bud. You deserve to find whatever is in that Colonial dirt.

Kirk

 

[whitesPA]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

very nice finds

 

[CRUSADER]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

I'm going to keep bumping this all year, if I have to.

Tnet sort it out

This is breaking news which any US TV programme would be proud of (well at least the history channel).

 

[scratcher]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

nothing to add, banner bump

 

[Don in SJ]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

I held off replying until I heard back from a individual who I thought might shed some more light on the spoon, but not much really except for what he says and a book he suggests getting a hold of.

Here is an excerpt of the reply from a curator at Williamsburg Va:

This is an early spoon mold, and is thus somewhat rare. It is a relatively common form for a 17th c. spoon, and it should be easy to find surviving examples in books. There’s one volume that comes to mind, called something like “Four Hundred Years of Base Metal Spoons” which should provide all the answers.

Sure is bewildering that a rare relic such as this is not on top

Don

 

[timekiller]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

Just getting on here.Don Very Thankful for your repley and time you spent on this as alot of these guy's on here use you for these tough finds you are spoke of fond on here as many tell me they get there info. from you. I have also sent out emails to the Smithsonian and 3 other museums with pic to some.But no replies yet!As for your info thanks might be getting somewhere with this. As for banner Maybe they have drawer fulls of them home!

 

[timekiller]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

It's nice that you heard back Don, and that rarity is confirmed. It's unfortunate though that this perhaps wasn't given a closer look, as if we follow the advice and search books on these pewter acorn spoons, we find that they were made in the 16th, rather than 17th century. Perhaps the unlikelyhood that a design as early as this would ever be found here could cause such an oversite. The other possibility is he was talking about when the spoon made from the mold was in use, rather than the date of the mold iteself.

At any rate, any one of us here can google 17th century spoon. We find spoons of this general design. When we occasionally see the acorn finial and follow up on it we find it is 16th century (or a knockoff made by a company without historic credentials. When we google " pewter acorn spoon" however, we invariably find spoons of this specific design made in the 16th century and earlier. (the Christies example posted early in this thread is but one example).

Even if we were to accept that this is the "common spoon" of the 1600's rather than 1500's, (again, the common spoon does NOT have the acorn finial) we can get a pretty good idea about the meaning of the word "common" considering it's doubtful any of us have found an intact example of a pewter spoon which was not the later "rat tail". How rare a find on the terms of a detectorist does that make a mold used to make one? !!!

I'm waiting for a reply from the curator of the Jamestowjn Museum for an opinion. That museum's artifacts are a hundred years earlier, yet still a hundred years after the probable date of the mold. I'll post more when I hear something.

But without that further information, and with the little, yet possitive information we've now learned from the curator at Williamsburg, I have to echo your words,

"Sure is bewildering that a rare relic such as this is not on top."

Jonnyi same as the above statement very thankful to you as well.Big Help Guy's!

 

[Don in SJ]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

OK, here is what I consider rather definite proof that the acorn spoons were from the time period Johnny has been stating. (This books states early part of 16th Century or perhaps earlier) This is probably part of the oldest known mold in North America if without a doubt the paterrn is a Acorn knops type, which it sure appears to be from the photos.

Look at pages 21-23

http://books.google.com/books?id=oBgtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA7&dq=old+base+metal+spoons#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Don

 

[CRUSADER]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

OK, here is what I consider rather definite proof that the acorn spoons were from the time period Johnny has been stating. (This books states early part of 16th Century or perhaps earlier) This is probably part of the oldest known mold in North America if without a doubt the paterrn is a Acorn knops type, which it sure appears to be from the photos.

Look at pages 21-23

http://books.google.com/books?id=oBgtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA7&dq=old+base+metal+spoons#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Don

I'm not too bothered if its mid-16th or mid-17th, its a bloody banner find (massive full stop)

 

[Silver Searcher]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

OK, here is what I consider rather definite proof that the acorn spoons were from the time period Johnny has been stating. (This books states early part of 16th Century or perhaps earlier) This is probably part of the oldest known mold in North America if without a doubt the paterrn is a Acorn knops type, which it sure appears to be from the photos.

Look at pages 21-23

http://books.google.com/books?id=oBgtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA7&dq=old+base+metal+spoons#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Don

The link I posted, dates Acorn Spoons as early as the 15 century ...1400 hundreds

SS

 

[romeo-1]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

How is this not on the banner

 

[CRUSADER]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

How is this not on the banner

I haven't got a scooby doo

 

[SCMDing]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

B-A-N-N-E-R

 

[pjroo33]

Re: A Rare 16th Century Spoon Mold Find!

I'm still very confused as to why this is still not on the BANNER. It's one of the most historically significant finds I've seen posted on here in a couple of years.