Good day, friends.
It might only be important to me and not to most others, but I would like to pose a question here which begs some kind of explanation. Please see the pics attached. They are all silver, in all probability 925. The first one has a flowery finial and is only identified by a maker’s mark MP. The second is an Islamic spoon marked “Silver”. The third is marked with “Siam” and shows the country’s national crest. The fourth is actually marked “Sterling” and has the wording “Windhoek SWA”.
I should have included a fifth pic, but I did not, because we all know it: that flashy little teaspoon with the enamelled windmill for a finial with the name of the country or the capital in bright letters. Or others like this, each advertising a country or a city or whatever you can imagine. They shout out: TOURIST.
What I am wondering about is if my four silver spoons also fall into this category. What is the reason for the existence of the first one of a set of which two have “MP” but the rest have no mark whatsoever? And the second one: does it merely commemorate the Islamic faith? It cannot be pinned down to one country. The third one: it says “Siam”, but is it merely a silver monochrome version of a tourist spoon? That’s what tourist spoons do: they commemorate or advertise a country or city. The same with number four.
Here’s the crunch: If I have built up a collection of silver tea- or mocha spoons with purity of 800 and up (one for every country) should I disqualify the Siam and the SWA (Namibia) spoons? Not a single one of my 15-strong country collection have figural finials that proclaim the country. They are all identified by hallmarks of various kinds.
Any comments, friends? You might say it’s your collection theme, arrange it any way it tickles you! But do others share the rationale behind it all?
Regards to all
Jan
