Dessert spoon
Label Text
Martha Washington's son, John "Jacky" Parke Custis, and his new wife, Eleanor Calvert, assembled an impressive array of imported English silver soon after they married in 1774. It included twenty-four dessert spoons featuring the Custis crest. This is one of sixteen French spoons made at a later date which descended in the family of Jacky's daughter, Eliza Parke Custis Law. She likely ordered them to supplement her inherited portion of her parents' eighteenth-century wedding silver.
See also dessert spoons, H-4802-H-4809, W-445/A-F, and W-1468.
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Datec. 1798-1809
Maker
TJ
(French)
Geography
Made -
France
Medium/TechniqueSilver
DimensionsOverall: 5 5/8 in. x 1 1/8 in. x 1/4 in. (14.29 cm x 2.86 cm x 0.64 cm)
Credit LineAcquired through the generosity of Thomas V. H. Vail and Iris J. Vail, 2008
Object numberH-4810
DescriptionDessert spoon with pointed oval bowl and rounded, downturned handle with faint midrib and plain edges; engraved on obverse of handle with the Custis family crest, the head of an eagle issuing from a wreath.MarkingsFour hallmarks on the reverse of the handle: Parisian medium census mark in the shape of a human ear; unidentified maker's mark features a Caduceus flanked by the letters "T" and "J", all in a diamond; official Parisian assay mark for standard silver, 950/1000, featuring the profile of a standing cock, facing left, with the number "1" at lower right, all in a canted-corner rectangle; Parisian medium excise mark featuring a full-face view of a man's head, flanked by the numbers "8" and "5", in a circle.
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