Tallone
Hero Member
I didn’t purchase these antique souvenir spoons. They came to me from my mother. I believe they belonged to her grandmother. They appear to date from the late 1800s to early 1900s. I count 76 spoons. Most are sterling silver. Most of them are from locations in the U.S. but there are several from the Caribbean, Canada, and a few other places outside the U.S.
I know people collect these and, from my eBay research, prices seem to typically run $10 to $20. However, as is often the case with collectibles, there are a select few that can bring much more than that, sometimes in the hundreds of dollars. Enameled spoons seem to fetch the highest prices but most of the really high priced ones have enameling in the bowl. I have a six enameled spoons (top right corner of the photo) but the enameling is limited to a small section at the head of the handle. All of these spoons are from Canada.
I also noticed that some of the spoons on eBay appear to have been polished while others are not. I am inclined to leave them as they are unless someone can make a compelling case to polish them before sale.
I am particularly intrigued by the group of four spoons at the bottom of the picture. Here is a close up of them:
From left to right these spoons are from: The Chicago World’s Fair (1892), the Pan American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York (1901), Hawaiian coin, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis (1904). Spoons from old world fairs seem to do well.
The Hawaii spoon is interesting. It is obviously made from a coin dated 1883. I had no idea Hawaii minted their own coinage. I found a few Hawaiian coins from 1883 on eBay and they seem to sell for hundreds of dollars. Of course, the highest value ones are graded collector coins. My coin/spoon is in very good condition in that the writing and graphics are very clear but I’m sure the fact the coin was cupped to make a spoon will hurt the value significantly. I’m sure there are coin collectors here on TNet. I’m curious if this coin would still be of interest to coin collectors or if it would have more value to spoon collectors.
I know people collect these and, from my eBay research, prices seem to typically run $10 to $20. However, as is often the case with collectibles, there are a select few that can bring much more than that, sometimes in the hundreds of dollars. Enameled spoons seem to fetch the highest prices but most of the really high priced ones have enameling in the bowl. I have a six enameled spoons (top right corner of the photo) but the enameling is limited to a small section at the head of the handle. All of these spoons are from Canada.
I also noticed that some of the spoons on eBay appear to have been polished while others are not. I am inclined to leave them as they are unless someone can make a compelling case to polish them before sale.
I am particularly intrigued by the group of four spoons at the bottom of the picture. Here is a close up of them:
From left to right these spoons are from: The Chicago World’s Fair (1892), the Pan American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York (1901), Hawaiian coin, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis (1904). Spoons from old world fairs seem to do well.
The Hawaii spoon is interesting. It is obviously made from a coin dated 1883. I had no idea Hawaii minted their own coinage. I found a few Hawaiian coins from 1883 on eBay and they seem to sell for hundreds of dollars. Of course, the highest value ones are graded collector coins. My coin/spoon is in very good condition in that the writing and graphics are very clear but I’m sure the fact the coin was cupped to make a spoon will hurt the value significantly. I’m sure there are coin collectors here on TNet. I’m curious if this coin would still be of interest to coin collectors or if it would have more value to spoon collectors.
