Possibly my first beach "pewter" ?

[Resurgam]

                         Last time out at Talacre using the Detech 13" Ultimate coil on the Safari I recovered a short handled spoon from an area of black sand beneath the surface. With the Safari set on all metals and cross saved to coin and jewellery, it gave an high tone signal and indicated 37. At the time of recovery I just threw the spoon in my scrap bag and had a closer look at it before contemplating chucking iit n the scrap bucket at home this week.

                         Totally unresponsive to the old spit and foil trick, it was also unresponsive to a magnet. The thick smelly material from the black sand has almost completely coated the spoon in a thin black layer. Where the coating has flaked away the spoon looks as though it may be made of lead and weighs 74.6 grams. I am beginning to suspect that the spoon may be made of pewter. It looks as though it may have deliberately been made with a short handle; rather than having had the handle broken.

                         Is there any way of assessing the age of the spoon? There are no visible markings on the spoon and if it is made from pewter with a high lead content I assume that it may be an earlier piece of pewter cutlery.

                         Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

                         Chris


 

[Val Beechey]

Hi Chris, nice find, especially from the beach.  I'd say it's a tea caddy spoon. Not too sure of exact age but back to the time when tea was imported in nice little boxes and only the well off drank it.

Did I hear you say that was last week 

[Resurgam]

Hi Val,
           yes it has been shaped as though it may have been shaped for scooping measures of something; perhaps tea. Possibly being high in lead content I would assume that it would not have been good for eating with.

           When I say last week; it was Sunday morning, when we got the first break in the weather at Talacre. 

[Resurgam]

ps

I'm betting that Geoff can tell us the date of production, the brand of tea it was used to measure, and the name of the chimp that used it! 

[Val Beechey]

 

[wittsy1]

Nice interesting little spoon, I think I would agree with Lady Val on th ID.

[dingdong]

Me to Wittsey1, I go with Lady VAL on that Tea,Caddy spoon,or......
A sorcerer's wicked potions spoon,ear of bat,wort of toad,entrails of a troubled horse,etc,etc,etc....LOL!!! Na!!probably a tea Caddy spoon,nice find though !!!👍

[Resurgam]

Any ideas on a possible date chaps? pre 1800's? Or there abouts?

[Val Beechey]

It's possible it's not a tea caddy spoon Chris.  I've looked at numerous pewter spoons and it occurred to me that if the sides were squeezed in it would look like a caddy spoon but maybe not.
How is the handle joined to the bowl, can you see any marks on it.  Similar pewter spoons range in date from the 1600's to Victorian.

[Resurgam]

Hi Val,
            it strikes me as being rather heavy for a tea caddy spoon and yes it looks as though the sides have been squashed in slightly, but I cant tell if that has been done accidentally or deliberatly. As of yet, I can't see any markings on it and can't tell if the bowl is is an integral part of the moulding or if it has been sweated on to the handle.

            Just where the handle joins the bowl, at the back, there is a slightly raised oblong section that I thought was going to have some markings on it. I will try and see if I can get a good close up of that section.

[raistlain]

im probably a million miles out but i remember watching a documentary a few years ago about an unidentified 17 century ship wreck and amongst other stuff the divers brought up were spoons looking a lot like that lots of them....

[Val Beechey]

That's more than likely raistlain. Ther'es hundreds of ship  wrecks around our coast line.  Some years ago 2 gold coins were found  wedged into the rocks the other side of the Severn, can't remember exactly where.  It was said they'd come from a wreck.
It's possible that Chris's spoon got washed up.

[Resurgam]

                     I have tracked down almost a hundre wrecks in Liverpool bay and the Dee Estuary and many that foundered on the West Hoyl Bank, just off Talacre. I also frequently find copper maritime nails on the sands there. I am beginning to believe that the spoon may have a maritime origine and may have some conection with some of my other finds on the beach.

                     Based on the map references for the spoon, some old silver jewellery, and a George III halfpenny; I think that the jigsaw that is Talacre is starting to come together. When you considder that there are almost two square miles of beach between high and low water lines, the Point of Ayr and Presthaven Sands; it has taken almost five years to start building up a decent picture of what may lie beneath the sands.

                      I could probably do with a beach buddy to help me out. 

[Val Beechey]

I think you could do with a JCB and maybe a Dredger   

[Resurgam]

                                 Aaaah; if only! Sadly, as you already know, my Crown Estate permit will not allow the use of digging machinery and anything below the low water line come under the Receiver of Wreck, as does flotsam and jetsam.

                                 A bit of automation would possibly turn up more of this stuff.................