A Spoonful of Love

 

QUESTION: There are many ways of saying “I love you,” but one of the most unusual is the love spoon. I recently saw several of these in antique shops while traveling through Wales. About all the dealers could tell me about them was that they were gifts of love from a suitor to his true love, a tradition that has existed in Wales for several centuries. I bought one to take home, even though it seemed to be overly priced. What can you tell me about Welsh love spoons?  

ANSWER: Rural lovers with their hearts set on a plain milkmaid would probably have been unable to buy a loving gift for Valentine’s Day back in the in the late 18th and 19th centuries. So they fashioned tokens of their love from whatever was close at hand, using whatever skills they had. Often these gifts might have been small personal items, such as knitting sheathes, stay busks and lace bobbins. But the gift that seemed to have stirred young girls’ hearts the most was the Welsh love spoon.

No one knows why the Welsh made these love spoons. However, there was an earlier tradition among Scandinavians of giving love spoons. However, today most people associate the love spoon with the Welsh.

So why give a spoon? For centuries the humble spoon was one of the most familiar of  household utensils. The practice of storing spoons fitting snugly together prompted people to give a romantic meaning to the word in the 18th century. The delightfully descriptive word “spoonways” eventually embraced the human desire to emulate the closeness of these spoons in bed. The Victorians went further and used the verb “to spoon” to describe courting. In fact, the phrase continued in use well into the 20th century with popular song writers who found it a useful for its ability to rhyme with words such words as moon, June, swoon, and honeymoon.

It’s difficult to be precise about the origins of love spoons. However, enough of them inscribed with a date survive to enable collectors to trace their styles. One of the earliest recorded dates to 1667.

Most of the spoons on the market today date from the late 18th and 19th centuries. Although generations of spoon carvers would have copied styles and designs, dating them is difficult. Those spoons with a broad, flat  pierced handle seem to come predominantly from North Wales, while those that display clumsy carving and a lack of proportion tend to come from Pembrokeshire. The lucky young girl who received one really didn’t care where it came from. 

What’s certain is that such prized possessions would have been displayed in a place of honor and no doubt the most eligible girls could acquire a small collection of these spoons before choosing their mates. The. infinite variety of styles and designs found in Welsh love spoons means that there are no two alike. Their great charm rests in what  they represent and the symbolism in the motifs that carvers used to create them.

The most common of these motifs was naturally the heart. Two hearts intertwined contained even more obvious meaning. Closely associated with the heart, and almost as common, was a motif that looked like a fat comma. This symbol comes from the ancient Egyptians sign for the soul. Thus, hearts and commas declare heart and soul. Keyholes represent another powerful motif, offering a way into the suitor's heart. And even other spoons feature a small muse, and occasionally a key that really helped make the suitor’s feelings known. 

Still, the formalities had to be observed and many love spoons incorporate chains—not simply to demonstrate the skill of the carver—but to indicate the chains that bind a marriage. Shoes and boots also appear frequently on love spoons. The origin of this motif is a reference in the Bible in which the exchange of a shoe signified agreement of a marriage contract.

Carvers often incorporated initials with or without dates, and sometimes created spoons with a deeper, oblong window cutout into which a suitor inserted a piece of paper inscribed with names, dates, or drawings. Likewise, carvers sometimes added shards of broken mirrors. Why they did this is unclear. Perhaps it was to add a note of brightness to their spoon design, for none of these shards was large enough to serve as a looking glass. 

And while they used the most accessible and workable materials to carve their spoons, carvers used a variety of woods, especially easily carved sycamore and fruitwood. 

Occasionally, they created spoons from more exotic woods and materials, such as mahogany, ivory, or whalebone. This suggests that a sailor could have carved the spoon while on a voyage to a distant land. Sailors also seemed more likely to have embellished their spoons with inlaid colored wax or tiny brass pins. Some went even further and incorporated a lantern or cage containing free-moving balls into the handles, showing off the skill of the carver. 

The skill of some of these spoon makers was extraordinary, with the manual dexterity to produce even the most basic spoons. It’s also possible that an especially talented spoon carver could have made spoons for others in his area, accounting for the similarity of designs in spoons from certain places.

Because love spoons now fetch higher prices both in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, it would be easy to give them an importance beyond their humble origins. Essentially, love spoons were simply a declaration of love, pure and simple.  

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Stirring Up the Witch’s Brew

 

QUESTION: One of my favorite times of the year is Fall because it brings with it Halloween. And my favorite Halloween motif is the witch—riding her broom through the crisp night sky. For years, I’ve collected all sorts of items having to do with witches. Recently, I visited Salem, Massachusetts, site of the infamous Salem witch trials. The place was just brimming with all sorts of Salem witch souvenirs. I almost went nuts. Can you tell me how witches got to be so popular? And are any of the souvenirs sold in Salem collectible?

ANSWER: Witches haven’t always been a popular fun motif. For centuries, being accused of being a witch often meant death by some horrible means—often being burned at the stake. Superstition ran rampant in past times when science was in its early stages and religion and mysticism ruled.

Though hunting down witches had been going on for centuries, it really got a kick start in 11th-century Europe when accusations of witchcraft fell upon anyone who did any sort of perceived evil deed. This was especially true of persons, usually women, who made herbal medicines and recipes for spells to cure the sick. 

The Puritans came to the New World to escape persecution and ended up being more intolerant than anyone. They brought with them all the superstitions they had lived with in their home countries. And that included their belief in witchcraft.

Salem was a depressing place in 1692. Neighbors bickered continuously over boundary lines and politics. The strict demands of Calvinism allowed no frivolity and little joy. Work lasted six days a week and on the seventh, people spent their day listening to dire warnings of Satan's nearness by harsh, punitive ministers. One of the most evil of temptations was sexuality. Fear and repression filled the Puritans daily lives. The settlers feared attacks by Indians and had only recently recovering from a smallpox epidemic. Any activities that stimulated mental or physical excitement were deemed sinful. So it’s easy to see how a group of teenage girls with an excess of energy and pent up emotion, coming in direct conflict with severe repression, could become obsessed with their own wild imaginings, and sexual fantasies.

But scientists and historians now believe that the hysterical girls were victims of either a poisonous fungus found in the bread made and eaten in the settlement or from hallucinations they suffered from the hemp they chewed to make it pliable for making rope. But the stage had long ago been set for the tragedy that was to befall those girls. Historians believe that over 9 million people, nearly all of them women, were the victims of witch hunts and burnings for five previous centuries.

In Europe, witch hunting was a profitable business. Local nobles, bishops. judges, magistrates and others all received a share of the wealth created from the picked pockets and stolen property of arrested citizens. Local government officials charged victims for the ropes that bound them and the wood that burned them. It wasn’t much different in Salem. Those who were jailed had to pay the jailer for food and the chains that held therm. Officials confiscated personal property to pay increasing debts. Some people who were later released fought for years to reclaim their stolen property.

Though original artifacts from this time period are rare, memorabilia such as Jonathan Corwin's trunk, accused Mary Hollingsworth English's sampler, Philip English's chair, cane and bottle and John Proctor's brass sundial do exist. There are also 552 documents related to the trials, known collectively as "The Salem Witchcraft Papers," including arrest warrants, examinations and death warrants. Also in this collection are the witch pins, claimed by the accusers to have been used by the "witches" to torment their victims. 

Victorians of the latter part of the 19th century loved to travel. And visitors wanted to take home souvenirs of their journeys, either natural or manmade. Daniel Low, the owner of a gift and silver shop in Salem, decided that the town could benefit from the types of souvenir pieces he had seen during trips to Europe. He first created a silver spoon with a witch design, complete with a broom and the word “Salem.” Low marked it "D Low Sterling" and a circle D for Durgin Silversmiths on the reverse side. Its popularity soon encouraged him to create another. As his spoons began selling wildly,  the witch image quickly became Salem's symbol. Low was the first to make souvenirs for tourists in the U.S.

Low patented his witch design on Jan. 13, 1891. The second spoon pattern, introduced in 1893, was much more ornate, having in its design a witch on a crescent moon, a cat, the three pins, the date of 1692, a hemp rope and a handle of a witch's broom. The design twines around the back of the spoon and shows the frayed end of the rope.

The success of these spoons was so enormous they began a souvenir craze across the country. Low then began a line of items for the Witch City trade that would he imitated by towns and cities across the United States, Canada, and Europe. He offered quality sterling silver souvenir items that included tea strainers, bookmarks, perfume bottles, matchsafes and dishes. Soon tourists insisted on more items at a moderate price. 

Other companies jumped an the souvenir bandwagon, creating items of china, glass, pottery and celluloid. Souvenir manufacturers presented dishes, sewing equipment, household implements, dresser items, and jewelry, for sale to eager tourists. 

Photography had come into its own by the last decades of the 19th century and postcards became a popular souvenir item. Tourists snapped them up. In fact, Jonathan Corwin's home where the trials took place, called the Witch House, has been pictured on postcards so often over the years, that postcards eventually documented changes in the site. So many publishers and printers have produced cards of this structure that prices are low because they are so common. They usually range between $1 and $6.

A variety of Salem witch souvenirs, including pins, spoons, plates, sheet music, and postcards sell for $40 or so at auctions. Spoons can sell for $150 or more, depending on their condition. 

While most people are familiar with the Salem witch trials, few know that the Salem witch memorabilia associated with the trials helped to launch the American souvenir industry.

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The Fair Where Electricity was the Star Attraction

QUESTION: I love to browse the small items found in showcases at antique coops and at flea markets. Recently, I came across a matchsafe with a cigar cutter that came fro the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. I’ve never heard of this. Could you tell me more about it? Is this matchsafe something I want to hold onto?

ANSWER: You’re not alone when it comes to knowing much about this world’s fair. Unfortunately, all the hoopla about the technology exhibited at the fair was overshadowed by a traumatic incident—the assassination of President William McKinley. And while this happened towards the end of the fair at the beginning of September, it undermined the importance of this event.

For six months in the summer of 1901, all the world came to Buffalo, N.Y ,to see the wonders of the new century and to celebrate the unity of the countries of North and South America during the Pan-American Exposition. More than 8.3 million people came to the exposition. Visitors called it “Doing the Pan.” For most, it was the trip of a lifetime. For one person, President William McKinley, it was his last. While canals and gardens dazzled them, the midway seduced them. The buildings, covered in the new electrical lights, kept them in awe.
                   
President William McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz while he was shaking hands with visitors in the Temple of Music on the fairgrounds on September 6, 1901. He died eight days later.

Every country in the Americas participated. The exposition Vacant land at the northern edge of Buffalo was transformed into a Spanish Renaissance style wonderland. Electric light bulbs outlined all of the major buildings. The 391-foot Electric Tower alone boasted 40,000 bulbs. At dusk, visitors gazed in awe at the display of electrical lighting, a novelty at that time.

The fair’s theme was to unite the Americas. Prior to the opening, the exposition’s organizers held a contest for the design of the logo. Raphael Beck, an artist from Lockport, a city on the Erie Canal northeast of Buffalo, won the $50 prize with his entry. The logo featured a map of the western hemisphere. North America was depicted by a fair-haired woman and South America depicted by a dark-haired woman. The women joined hands to form Central America.

The Pan-American Exposition produced thousands of souvenirs which collectors seek today. Many souvenir items were made picturing the buildings and other features of the fair. The Electric Tower pictured on your letter opener was the tallest structure at the fair and often appears on souvenir items.   Many of the souvenirs were pans, said Boyd. One frying pan had a button on the side. When the button is depressed, the lid opens and one sees a tiny buffalo standing in the middle of the pan.

Many of the souvenirs were made of aluminum, a new metal introduced at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. By the time of the Pan-American Exposition, aluminum had become a major industry in nearby Niagara Falls. After President McKinley's death, people bought presidential memorials made of aluminum.

Among the most popular souvenirs were postcards, of which about 500 different ones have been identified. Pan-American stationery allowed exposition visitors to send letters. The Pan-American logo, with or without a buffalo, appeared on the envelope.



Nearly every day was a special day at the Pan-American Exposition, and sponsors of various ceremonies and special days sent invitations. Many of these invitations as well as the envelopes have survived.

Post offices sold special issue stamps in denominations of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 cents. These stamps weren't to be used as postage and had to be specifically requested by customers.

And visitors could find free samples of food or beverages or free souvenirs in the Manufacturers & Liberal Arts Building, free sample soap bars in the Larkin Building, free machine-woven ribbons, bookmarks, etc. These, in addition to free brochures and advertising cards, enabled those who could afford only the costs of getting to the Exposition to carry away remembrances of their experience.

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A Spoonful of Grace

  
QUESTION: We ran across a chair in an antique shop and the dealer referred to it as a "spoon chair". It was wooden with a high narrow back, no arms and a fairly wide seat. Can you give us any information on this type of chair?

ANSWER: Everyone knows that spooning is when you lay close to your partner in bed as if to cradle him or her in the “spoon” shape of your body. But in antiques “spoon” refers to the backs of certain chairs that vaguely resemble the shape of the bowl of a spoon. The chair asked about by the couple above wasn’t really a spoon-back chair at all, but one that was made to be used as both a chair and a step stool to reach things up on a shelf. The person standing on it would have held onto the back to steady the chair. Stylized reproductions of many of these types of chairs appeared in the 1960s and 1970s.

When the shape of chairs changed at the end of the 17th century with the appearance of S-shaped legs, the backs for the most part remained straight and box-like.

By the middle of the 18th century, during the reign of Queen Anne of England, chair makers introduced the Cabriole leg which meant that chairs no longer needed stretches for support. This allowed chair makers the freedom to construct gracefully curved backs.

The 19th century brought further design and construction improvements, including the balloon-like shaped back which eventually evolved into what became known as a spoon-back. This became possible because of innovations in chair construction and the ease of cutting the pieces with special mechanical saws. Designers of Rococo and Renaissance Revival chairs used the curved spoon-back design to soften the look of their chairs.