A HENRY IV SILVER MINIATURE DIAMOND-POINT SPOON
THE BENSON COLLECTION (LOTS 301-340)
A HENRY IV SILVER MINIATURE DIAMOND-POINT SPOON

CIRCA 1400

Details
A HENRY IV SILVER MINIATURE DIAMOND-POINT SPOON
CIRCA 1400
The fig-shaped bowl with facetted handle, terminating in a diamond-point finial, the back of the bowl with traces of initials
2 3/8 in. (6.1 cm.) long
3 dwt. (5 gr.)
Provenance
The Benson Collection, probably acquired after 1957.
Literature
D. J. E. Constable, The Benson Collection of Early Silver Spoons, Golden Cross, 2012, pp. 40-41, no. 11.
Exhibited
On loan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2006-2012.

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Lot Essay

DIAMOND POINT SPOONS

Diamond point spoons, so called for the facetted shape of their finial, which How suggests (op. cit. vol. I, p. 161) is based on the prick or goad spur which was common in the 13th century, were first made at the end of the 13th century, eventually replacing the acorn as the most common form. The earliest example with full London marks is believed to date from 1493 but examples are known with several versions of the early Leopard head mark. A set of 'ii dozen and vi spoyns with dyamond poyntes' are recorded in the will of a Richard Morton of 1487 and cited by Timothy Kent in his introduction to The Benson Collection of Early Silver Spoons, p. 3.

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