Beautiful Christmas spoon

[47linc]

While looking through a very old trash pile today I found a cute little spoon,rather nasty with crusty attachments,some light cleaning brought to life some very nice detail,I have tried to download pictures because I belong to other forums and I know how much people love pictures,but I still hope someone might have some info about this item. It is 5 1/2 inches long with a old style looking santa on the end of the handle,with what appears to be a elf in his beard,then on the handle it says merry christmas,then there is a ball behind a drum,then inside the spoon is hearth scene,with a kettle in the open fire place a chair on the left side and tongs and shovel on the right side and a cat in front ,on the mantle is a candle with rays of light surrounding it and a plate and a bottle,?, and a tea kettle or oil lamp,on the right side on the wall is a coo-coo clock and on the left side on the wall is a window,thats the front.The back of santa's head has holley leaves and berries below that heading down the handle is his open sack,in the sack is a doll,a sword,a horn and something I can't identify but looks like a big P,down at the narrow end of the handle there is stamped sterling,then an 8 sided circle witha lion with his right front paw raised,next to him is a shield shaped indentation with a very fancy W inside,the W hass three "arms" on the far left leg and the tops of all the arches are pointed,then we have another 8 sided circle with acrown in it,then before it goes into the spoon you see the backside of the ball and drum. Niether my wife or I collect silver or spoons,but I was so impressed but the quality of workmanship and attention to detail that I just had to try to find out more info on this item,it was found by a stream that drains off some very old pioneer sites in northern arizona. I'll try to fix my photo problem and send some pictures,but I hoped that someone has some info about this lovely little item. Thanks alot Bob.

[dragonflywink]

Wow, what a detailed description! Sounds like your maker was Watson & Newell of Attleboro, Mass. Would be a variation on a design patented in 1903 (#D36471), assigned to Watson. Believe the "elf" is actually Punch (minus Judy), and the item that looks like a "P" is perhaps a rattle, nice to have the added hearth scene in the bowl. Watson made some beautifully designed souvenir spoons.

Cheryl ;o)

[47linc]

Thanks alot Chery, That gives me some place to start,that picture matches the top of the spoon exactly,so now I can do some research on that company and hopefully put a date to this spoon.None of the markings on the back matched any american ones we could see but I have to take another look,now at least i have an approximate date and maker. Thanks again,Bob.l

[dragonflywink]

There are many variations of Watson's trademarks, the crown-W-lion marks are generally accepted to have been used from 1910 on. Wallace bought Watson in 1955, don't believe they produced any of the Watson souvenir spoons with either Watson or Wallace marks. The souvenir spoon dies were sold to Whiting & Davis in 1964 and many of the designs were produced with their marks. You're pretty safe in assuming that your spoon was made 1910-55.

Cheryl ;o)

[47linc]

I've been doing some searching and it seems they were a fairly popular company with a very diverse offering,I have found the marking on another site which match exactly,and dates it in the mid 1920's. Your help was invaluable,I didn't have a clue where to start, Thanks again,Bob.