POST MEDIEVAL SPOON

1550

A corroded cast baluster seal knop from a copper-alloy ('latten') spoon handle. The knop begins with the remnants of a handle, 2.9mm, then the baluster part then flares out to a diameter of 8.7mm. Above the baluster are a pair of collars, the lower with a larger diameter. The knop then flares out into a sub-circular seal top, 15.1mm by 16.0mm, which is flat on the upper side. 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 however. Moore (ibid.) also highlights the fact that such knops were cast separately and then soldered to the handle; this perhaps explains the nature of this fragmentary survival. This example now has a light/mid-green patina surviving over a red-brown metal, with some patches of lighter corrosion product all over.