Huge 19th Century Silver Spoon Pulled from Sea!

[UnderMiner]

I stumbled across a curious site today while exploring the coastline at low tide. A large spoon was sticking up almost vertically just below the surface of the water. Thinking it was brass, which is quite expensive in scrap these days, I pulled on it. It offered some resistence, the handle being firmly embedded in the mud below.

When it finaly came free I nearly gasped at the sight I beheld. This wasn't a brass spoon, as I saw the markings on the handle now exposed. This was an Imperial Austrian silver spoon from 19th century Vienna. I knew all of this the moment I saw the handle.

Having studied silver hallmarks for years before this I immediately recognized the archaic Viennese Cross Shield used by Imperial Austria between 1737-1867.

In the shield was the number 13, indicating 13 Loth, the silver standard, which translates to 81.25% silver purity. Above the 13 was the letter A, symbol of the city of Vienna. On the right side of the shield we see the numbers 8 and under it the number 9, these are the 2nd and 4th numbers in the date code which is partially missing, but we can still say with certainty this places the spoon's manufacture between 1809-1859. So without even cleaning it up we can already tell so much about the history of this spoon.

Now the question is, why was it here, and what else is down there? Could a ship from Europe have run aground around here 170+ years ago and this is part of its cargo? I wasn't prepared for this chance discovery, detector was in the car miles away, the tide was rising so I had to leave, but I have marked the location and am going back soon.

The spoon is just over 11 inches long and weighs 93.3 grams. Based on its purity of 81.25% this translates to 75.7 grams or 2.43 Troy Oz of pure silver, worth about $90 in melt value in today's market.

 

[tamrock]

This is a collection I picked up a few years back of larger solid silver spoons and ladles. The big ladle is 14" long and the longest spoon is 12". All are an alloy less that sterling I believe. One was made around 1790s I believe.

 

[Red-Coat]

This is a collection I picked up a few years back of larger solid silver spoons and ladles. The big ladle is 14" long and the longest spoon is 12". All are an alloy less that sterling I believe. One was made around 1790s I believe.

Great find for the Austrian spoon. I would definitely leave it ‘as-is’ and certainly not consign it to the melting pot, These long spoons are commonly known as ‘basting spoons’ (especially if they have a large bowl) but used for other purposes too, including serving.


For your spoons @tamrock, that’s a nice selection. For the marks I can read (one is illegible), you have two sterling spoons: one London hallmarked for 1803 (serifed capital H) and I don’t recognise the maker unless it’s a distorted ‘WE over WF’, which would be the partnership between William Eley and William Fearn; the other also London hallmarked, but for 1838 (gothic capital C) and with the ‘WE’ mark for William Eaton, in the cartouche style he used from 1828 onwards.

Then a couple of Russian spoons, both in 84 zolotnik, which equates to .875 fine silver. One is Odessa assayed with the B•Ʌ mark generally attributed to Vasily Matveyevich Lapshin, although his period of operation is usually given as 1852-1862 which doesn’t align with 1867 (but that may not be completely correct); the other is Moscow assayed with the ‘MЧ’ mark for Mikail Paslovich Churmazov, in office from c.1840 onwards. I didn’t search for the actual makers.

The other spoon is American. The ‘R’ is distorted such that it looks like an ‘F’, but R. & W. Wilson was Robert and William Wilson of Philadelphia, active between c.1825-1846. If it’s not otherwise marked, it will likely be coin silver at nominal .900 fine.

 

[Marino13]

What a neat find. Congrats.

 

[UnderMiner]

This is a collection I picked up a few years back of larger solid silver spoons and ladles. The big ladle is 14" long and the longest spoon is 12". All are an alloy less that sterling I believe. One was made around 1790s I believe.

Yes, these are a mix many different silver types, but there are clearly British sterling in there, the 84 Zolotnik spoons are Russian, they were very straight forward with their dating system - putting the actual year plainly written out. 19th century Zolotnik marked silver is probably my favorite type of silver, I don't know why, I have encountered it alot, many Russians came to the US in the late 19th century and during/after WWI, bringing their silver with them to escape the war and rise of the Communists. Knowing that the Soviets would have confiscated and melted down most of what remained makes it just fascinating to hold a piece that made it out and just know that it escaped, the adventures it was on to get to my hand. I use an 1886 84 Zolotnik soup spoon from Imperial Moscow as my primary soup spoon to this day.

 

[pepperj]

Very nice recovery on the big spoon.
If your not strapped, I would keep it.

Here's some bigger spoons in the set I bought awhile back.
Made in Germany
1909
.800 silver

The ladle has some good value

 

[Gare]

Great find Congrats