posted 03-04-2013 08:15 PM            

This is a 10cm long spoon that is stamped "Italy" (not Italia) on the bottom of the bowl. The bowl was soldered to the handle. The decoration of the handle is apparently intertwined vines with a wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, a familiar Roman motif. The handle is somewhat worn and the imagery is not very clear. Can someone tell me a bit about this spoon, particularly its possible dates of manufacture? It seems to be old, but I wonder why such a spoon would be stamped "Italy" rather than "Italia". The picture is here:

posted 03-05-2013 12:50 AM            

The spoon is a souvenir spoon - Italy is the internationalization.
Its part of a serie, from different cities - Venice lion, etc so you could buy 6 spoons from different cities. The motive with Romulus & Remus - relates to the foundation of Rome.
Sorry that all I can supply, hope that at least some was useful.

Age would be somewhere from the 50ties onward. Difficult to say when. How long have it been in your position That would give an idea of age.

posted 03-05-2013 11:51 AM            

My 50ties onwards was based upon feeling in my stomach. So 45 might be an option.

So post some more questions - that would be fine. See what we can do.

posted 03-05-2013 12:33 PM            

I did a Image search on various combinations of the words vintage, figural, Italian, spoon, and antique. I found a lot images of very similar spoons. Some had the same handle with a different bowl. Others had handles with different images on the end.

Several people owned sets of these spoons, described as "demitasse" spoons. Others called them "souvenir" spoons.

Several images were from the dreaded auction site and had similar spoons listed for a little. I had gotten a feel that this spoon was 20th century and this agrees with your statement. I was kind of hoping that this was my grandfather's spoon because I have so little of his stuff; I have more of my Dad's. I have also read that these spoons might be brass or pewter (silverplated).

How can I tell what it is made of?

posted 03-06-2013 12:44 AM            

Difficult to guess of metal - It should have hallmarks if silver. Try to look.

I fully understand you want something from family heritage. I do too Family silver ?

posted 03-07-2013 05:15 PM            

To add a bit more to what Hose_dk has already explained, this particular spoon is a tourist souvenir item from someone's travel to Italy. It is possible that it could be as old as the 1940s, but it is equally possible it could be 1950s or 1960s or even 1970s as it is a simple and popular design. Yours is cast from some kind of metal that does not appear to be silver. If it were silver it will have a marking of either .800 or .925 stamped into the metal. The .925 marking would mean it is 92.5% pure silver which is the standard for sterling, or if it were marked .800 that would mean it is 80% pure silver which is about the lowest standard for things made of silver anywhere. If your spoon does not have either of these two common Italian silver markings then it is almost certainly made of a base metal such as pewter or pot metal or such. This one is cast in a mold and compared to ones made of silver it is fairly crudely made with little detailing.

It could be something your father brought back from his time in the Army immediately after the war, but I think that it might be more likely to be something he acquired sometime later in life, perhaps between the 1950s and 1970s either from a vacation to Italy or perhaps it was given to him by someone else who had visited Italy, or he could have even picked it up at a flea market or something.

posted 03-07-2013 06:08 PM            

That spoon is rather well worn, so worn in fact that it's not obvious that it was crudely made. I searched for markings, but I will look again. I think the descriptions of other spoons like this one were supposed to have the word "Roma" or "Rome" on it. If it was there it is gone now. It seems pretty clear that this is not a spoon from 1893. My Dad was in Italy until November of 1945, and never went back and he did not collect Italian spoons. Unless I see evidence that this particular type of spoon was only made after November of 1945, then I will take it as having been bought in Italy in that year.