Before the objects were placed in the vat they were generally made by the usual methods of silversmithing. Some of the earlier items were first cast in German silver or Britannia metal. Progress in stamping later hastened and cheapened production. When the vessel had been hammered up from the flat, spun or cast, its ancillary parts previously stamped out and joined by solder, it was ready for decorating. This might be achieved by the ancient method of hand-engraving, by the mechanical means of a lathe such as engine-turning, or by the technique of etching which emulated hand-engraving. Other types of decoration included piercing, usually punched automatically, speedily and cheaply. When all decoration was completed the object would be placed in the plating vat for electro-deposition. (more…)

A few years after the turn of the eighteenth century the spoon eventually developed into the utensil which we use today. By 1720 its stem had become gracefully curved and terminated in a flat, rounded end which turned forward or upward and upon which it was rested on the table, so that the back of the bowl was uppermost in the French way. This Hanoverian rat-tail spoon continued in fashion for a few more years, the rat-tail gradually disappearing to be replaced by small droplets, either one or two, at the back of the bowl, or the increasingly fashionable scallop-shell, typical of the rococo period. The stem evolved into a flatter form, terminating by the 1760s in a curve which turned in the opposite direction to its predecessor, ie backward instead of forward, so that the spoon could be placed on the table with the interior of its bowl showing,as is still the custom in England and elsewhere today. This is termed the `Old English’ pattern and has been the basic form for spoons ever since. (more…)