Cowrie shell spoon by unknown maker

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legrandmogol
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Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 3:22 pm

Cowrie shell spoon by unknown maker

Post by legrandmogol »

I am not sure this spoon is English to any degree but this is my first stop in identifying it. My second guess is it's possibly Dutch. If anyone is familiar with it I would be grateful. It is marked HF twice on the underside, there are no other markings. The shell is faded on the sides from use. I am not exactly sure what this spoon was even used for.

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AG2012
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Posts: 5576
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:47 am

Re: Cowrie shell spoon by unknown maker

Post by AG2012 »

Hi,
It is tea caddy spoon, used for measuring out tea, most likely 18th or very early 19th century when tea was an expensive comodity and cowrie shell an exotic item rarely seen in Europe and worth to be silver mounted.
Double maker`s mark was used in several countries, cannot help with that.
Regards
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