First complete silver spoon

[pax_in_ma]

Found this spoon last night. Now on to identify maker and date of manufacturing.
Anybody has an advice on how to un-bend the spoon without breaking it? Heat maybe?

Thanks,

Patrick

 

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[cjon455]

that's just awesome!, that's a lot of silver in 1 item!!, I only ever find the plated junk

 

[RobRieman]

Heat it to a slight glow with a propane torch and quench it in water to anneal it. Should soften it up enough not to break.

 

[Argentium]

If you intend to "anneal" it yourself (the aforementioned heat treatment ) understand it first - youtube or google can be helpful .
you don't want to bring it to a loud red heat or an orange - more like a dull cherry glow in a darkened room .

 

[deershed]

Awesome find!!

I wish I could find more silver silverware, I think it's so Sweet. I've found 3 silver spoons and a fork. Two of the spoons were bent so I might have just got lucky with both but, I slowly bent them back. I grabbed as much spoon on each side of the bend as I could and ever so slowly straightened it out. Only bent them one time no back and forth making them perfect.
Mine were bent on the handle and I had a lot of handle on each side of the bend too.

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

Think I've gotten (silver) 1 butter knife and 1 spoon intact so far, have had one spoon handle that was old, nice save there pax !

 

[pax_in_ma]

Was able to ID the spoon. Maker is Alvin Manufacturing Co. Established in the late 1800s.
Pattern is Florentine. Created in 1900. :-)

 

[BFR]

Very nice find!

I have found 5 spoons and 1 fork in the last year! The oldest is 1903, the date is stamped on it!

BFR

 

[pax_in_ma]

If you intend to "anneal" it yourself (the aforementioned heat treatment ) understand it first - youtube or google can be helpful .
you don't want to bring it to a loud red heat or an orange - more like a dull cherry glow in a darkened room .

Thanks for the advice. Watched a few videos and applied the learnings. Annealing works great. Got the handle straight. :-)
Any advice on how to straighten the bowl? It's pretty beat up.

 

[RobRieman]

Thanks for the advice. Watched a few videos and applied the learnings. Annealing works great. Got the handle straight. :-)
Any advice on how to straighten the bowl? It's pretty beat up.

Same way with the annealing and then use a wooden dowel that is rounded smooth on the end. You can tap it with a hammer into sand with a piece of leather or heavy cloth laying on top as a mold. If your really into restoration you can use a doming block also. Just go slow and anneal as many times as you need to then polish her up nice.

 

[pax_in_ma]

Done with restoring the spoon. Overall happy with the end result plus I learned something new with annealing. Thanks for all the help and advice.

 

[UnderMiner]

Now you have to eat something with it. I can tell you one thing from experience, food tastes ten times better when you eat it using a solid silver spoon or fork that you personally discovered.

 

[Argentium]

Wow ! Stellar job friend , that spoon is a honey !!! I would put it back into daily service - as Underminer correctly pointed out
you will be loving life a little bit more with a silver spoon at every meal ! I hammered one out from an ingot some years ago ,
and I use it every morning for my oatmeal (without exception !)

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Killer Find!..Glad to see you were able to get it restored...I would love to find a complete Silver spoon like that. I have found the "round" part of one and a few plated..but never a solid one

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Nice hunk of silver, and very ornate! Congrats!