British Souvenir Spoons

Great Britain is known for the metallic quality of its silverwork. The primary reason is that it has the longest tradition (backed by law which established the sterling standard) of consistently marking silver in the world and the marks are fairly easily dated. This appeals greatly to collectors of antique silver since they can attribute the item to an individual maker and they also know the city and year in which it was marked.

In the case of English silver souvenir spoons, we can also use the British hallmarking system and date the spoons. Most of the British souvenir spoons were made in Birmingham, but we do find a few from London and other cities. In addition, the British spoon makers made souvenir spoons for some of the colonies and places that British visitors were likely to visit. Furthermore, the British continued to make silver spoons well into the 20th century--long after the practice was stopped in most of the world.

The British silversmiths were not as involved in the souvenir spoon movement until it had been underway in the USA and on the European continent for many years. When they finally started making souvenir spoons, they did produce some interesting designs, but they did not exhibit the creativity of the American spoon makers. Most of these pieces are very similar in design to the Canadian souvenir spoons.

These are British and Scottish souvenir spoons. In this exhibit I am not discussing the older British silver spoons as they are shown elsewhere in the spoon museum.

"The empire upon which the sun never sets" -1913

Brittanica (London - 1891)

Henley on Thames Rowing contest-1909

Dragon finial/ St. George slaying the dragon-1906

Truro, Cornwall, England

Cute owls finial-1910, Leeds, England

Neptune and mermaid--Liverpool-1904

Loch Lomond-1956

Dragon finials

left: London Coat of arms

Left: London Coat of Arms

This spoon has an enameled finial and the bowl shows the Houses of Parliament. Unfortunately the finial has had enamel loss. The colored line in the bowl is from the scanner. (Birmingham, 1901)

Edinburgh