Spoon, Tookey, James, London, 1754-1755
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
1754-1755
Spoon, Tookey, James, London, 1754-1755 is an object recorded by Victoria and Albert Museum, dated 1754-1755. The museum's brief description reads: Silver, English, London, 1754-55, mark of James Tookey. Museum description: Spoon, silver, Hanoverian pattern with a drop and shell back, the finial engraved with the initials 'E W'. The museum record gives material recorded as silver; measurements Length 20 cm; Weight 54.3 g; place associated: London; maker recorded: Tookey, James. These details come from the holding museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
This design of this spoon is typical of a type popular across Europe in the first decade of the eighteenth century until about 1770. The style emerged in England in around 1710, and has become known as 'Hanoverian' because it was popular during the reigns of the first two Hanoverian monarchs (George I and George II), who ruled between 1714-1760. The finial of the spoon has been designed so that the spoon can be placed on the table with its open bowl down (the opposite of how it would be set on the table today) and this is why the initials of the original owner are engraved on what we would now think of as the back of the spoon. This arrangement followed French fashions, which had developed at the end of the seventeenth century.The drop at the heel of this example (where the stem joins the bowl) is characteristic of spoons made after around 1730. Unusually, the heel of this spoon is embellished with a stamped shell design. In the 1730s, the ‘rat-tail’ on the back of spoon bowls gave way to the ‘drop’ or ‘double drop’, a development which meant that there was an area of plain surface on the back of the spoon bowl that offered space for embellishment. From the 1730s until the 1780s, the backs of spoon bowls, particularly of teaspoons, were embellished with a stamped design. These are referred to as ‘fancy backs’ by modern collectors. The design was added just below, or attached to, the drop or ‘heel’ of the spoon. The earliest motif was a shell, sometimes combined with a scroll…
Physical characteristics
- Material
- silver
- Dimensions
- Length 20 cm; Weight 54.3 g
Technical characteristics
- Technique
- Silver, forged and engraved
- Maker recorded
- Tookey, James
- Place recorded
- London
Design
- Inscriptions recorded
- Marks on stem, L to R from bowl: maker's mark of James Tookey; lion passant, mark of sterling standard silver; leopard's head crowned, the mark of the London assay office; 't' for assay year 1754-55; Engraved on the finial, the initials 'E W'.
Identification
- Museum object name
- Spoon
- Museum object number
- 154-1903
- Museum system number
- O271858
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm materials, dimensions, maker and wider type against the holding institution and a specialist reference.