Spoon, silver, London hallmarks for 1783-84, possibly mark of William Cattell.

Spoon, silver, old English pattern with a double drop, the edge of the stem and finial decorated with bright-cutting; the finial engraved with the intitals 'EP' in monogramme.

Records of the London goldsmiths' Garrard for 1760 include customer orders for spoons and forks which are described as 'turn'd back'. This is almost certainly a reference to pieces like this, in which the finial turns back or down so that they can be laid on the table with the bowl or tines uppermost (as we would set them on the table today). The decoration round the edge of the spoon is an example of bright-cutting, a form of engraving in which facets, not lines, were cut into the surface of the silver.

Since the facets are cut at different angles, they reflect light and make the metal appear to sparkle. It was a decorative technique made possible by the development of better-quality cutting tools in the 1770s, thanks to manufacturing methods that improved the quality of steel.