POST MEDIEVAL SPOON

1550

A fragment of a post-Medieval cast copper-alloy 'seal-top' knop spoon or 'baluster seal' type (1550-1650). Geake 2001: 76.This fragment is the terminal with a small portion of the stem.The terminal has a flat plain top with a waist and then a baluster below beneath which there is a collar. A small portion of the stem is too fragmentary to define its shape in cross-section.Height: 23.4mm; diameter of top: 9.1mm; diameter of baluster: 8.2mm. Weight: 4.01g.This type of spoon knop was common from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century. Moore (1999, 5) attributes their contemporary popularity to the fact that the owner's and donor's initials could be pricked or engraved onto the disc. On this example there seems to be no engraving. Moore (1999, 5) also highlights the fact that such knops were cast separately and then soldered to the handle.Geake, H. 2001 Finds Recording Guide Version 1.1.Moore, S., 1999. Cutlery for the Table. Sheffield: Hallamshire Press.