Spoon Mementos

QUESTION: My mother loved to collect souvenir spoons. She had over 100 of them. She recently died and now I have these spoons. One of them is particularly strange. It’s a sterling silver spoon with the trademark of a witch riding a broomstick on the back. Was this one produced to celebrate Halloween? And when did people start collecting souvenir spoons?

ANSWER: Sterling silver souvenir spoons are great mementos of an earlier era. As George B. James Jr. wrote in his catalog, Souvenir Spoons, published in 1891, "Many a legend, which has long been forgotten in the town of its origin, many a beautiful story which has long since been lost, have been happily brought to mind, and tradition honored by its incorporation in the souvenir spoon."

Antiques historians believe the first souvenir spoons appeared in Europe and were modeled after the silver Apostle spoons, produced in the late 16th century as religious souvenirs. In those early times, when a person wanted a portable security it had to be either silver, gold, or jewels. Spoons were practical and portable, but, unfortunately, when melted down served as ready currency.

Some of the most skilled 19th century and early 20th-century silversmiths made souvenir spoons, commemorating everything from world fairs to cities to historical figures, Biblical characters, and even the witches of Salem, Massachusetts.

In the late 19th century, the Gorham Manufacturing Company produced a group of Apostle spoons in the United States that now sell for $125 to $175 each. The trademark found on these sterling silver pieces manufactured from 1848 to 1865 shows a lion facing left, an anchor, and a "G."

Often souvenir spoons were the first gifts given to babies by their godparents at christenings. The idea began in the Middle Ages—a child no sooner learned to feed himself or herself, use a spoon, than he or she began to acquire a knowledge of Scripture and ecclesiastical history.

In 1887, as souvenir spoons became the fad in European cities, Daniel Low, of Salem, Massachusetts, made a trip to Europe where he purchased spoons from skilled craftsmen. From these, he conceived the idea of a spoon embodying the traditions and legends of Salem. His son, Seth F low, designed the first "witch" spoon. Its handle had the figure of a witch and the word "Salem.”

The first witch spoon spawned the souvenir spoon craze of the late 19th-century in the United States. It was the first to be made in this country from a special die, of a design suggestive of some particular place, and it has since become the most celebrated of the souvenir spoons.

Victorian women proudly displayed their souvenir spoons when serving tea, after-dinner coffee, and other beverages. They often used them with their good silver and china, especially at holiday celebrations.  Souvenir spoons also showed off all the places they had been.



Students in the early 20th century were often given souvenir spoons featuring their alma mater. Many of these graduation spoons had a male or female figures in graduation garb on their handles.  Others had handles decorated with pens, books, and globes.

The souvenir spoon craze moved west with the settlers. Most western towns used sterling silver spoons to advertise their assets. One of the biggest producers of these spoons was Joseph Mayer & Bros. in Seattle. The Mayers company had been in business as the Empire Jewelry Company in the East, but, when it moved west, it changed its name to Joseph Mayer & Bros.

G.A. Schuman, who became manager was a designer and toolmaker who had experience with Gorham, Whiting and Tiffany. In addition to souvenir spoons, the Mayer firm also made jewelry and several patterns of flatware. One of Mayer's special designs was a commemorative spoon for Butte, Montana, with a miner forming the handle. Another carried an ostrich engraved in its bowl along with the words. "Los Angeles" and the figure of a woman picking fruit forming the handle.

Both of the above spoons carry the Mayer's trademark of a crossed miner's pick and shovel above a rising sun. This mark originated with two of Joseph Mayer's younger brothers, who went to the Yukon where they opened a jewelry store instead of staking gold claims.

By 1909, Joseph Mayer & Bros. employed 100 craftsmen who manufactured souvenir spoons, along with sterling flatware and jewelry related items. The Mayers stamped their trademark on everything they made. In 1938 Joseph Mayer& Bros. became the El.Towle Manufacturing Co.

Mayer produced a lot of silver souvenir spoons because the process they used was mechanized, so it didn't cost much to produce each item. However, many pieces are skillfully engraved. Because so many were made and are still available today, they’re a popular collectible valued from under $20 to several hundred dollars.

Early souvenir spoons had the word “sterling” along with a trademark identifying its maker at the base of the spoon handle.

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