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Dessert spoon

Dessert spoon
Silver
Maker:  Thompson Davis
c. 1762-1763
Dessert spoon
Dessert spoon
Silver
Maker:  Thompson Davis
c. 1762-1763
Dessert spoon Silver Maker: Thompson Davis c. 1762-1763
Status
Not on view
Label Text

Dessert spoons were introduced in the early eighteenth century for partaking of the fruits, nuts, and other confections served after dinner. In 1762, when George Washington ordered a new set of china and silver flatware from London, he specifically requested two dozen "small Dessert Silver Spoons with my crest." This spoon is one of several which survive in the Mount Vernon collection. Washington's engraved crest on the handle of each spoon would have been visible to his guests, as the spoon was set on the table with its bowl downward. These spoons complemented the porcelain figurines and fine glassware Washington had earlier acquired for the fashionable presentation of dessert.

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Datec. 1762-1763
Retailer (English, 1751 - 1799)
Maker (English, 1757 - 1764)
Geography Made - England
Medium/TechniqueSilver
DimensionsOverall: 6 1/4 in. x 7/8 in. x 1 1/4 in. (15.88 cm x 2.22 cm x 3.18 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. M. Lee Shaffer and Charles Conrad Krumbhaar, Jr., in memory of Mrs. Charles A. Conrad, 1955
Object numberW-619
DescriptionSilver dessert spoon with elongated, oval bowl, rounded, upturned handle with midrib; rounded drop on the reverse of the handle where it joins the bowl; back of the handle engraved with the Washington crest, a griffin seated on a coronet.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 58.

Martha Gandy Fales, "The Silver," Magazine Antiques 135/2 (February 1989): 517, 519.

Kathryn Buhler, Mount Vernon Silver (Mount Vernon, VA: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 1957), 35-36.


MarkingsMarked on the reverse of the handle: Maker's mark, "TD"; London city mark, Leopard's head crowned; Sterling standard mark, Lion passant; date letter, "G."
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