Accession Number

1986.008.1167

Creation Date

circa 1700

Description

Conserved.
This pewter spoon is one of nearly 130 intact spoons or spoon fragments recovered from the 1700 shipwreck of the London-based slaver Henrietta Marie. These spoons were part of the ship’s trade cargo; carried with the intention of being exchanged for captive people along the West African coast. The piece has a bowl of 6.5 x 4.2 centimeters, and its overall length is 18.5cm. It is of a type called a portrait spoon, and it bears the likeness of England’s King William III set under a crown in the center of its three-lobed, “trifid” top. On the back of the handle, nearer the bowl, is the mark of the late 17th century London pewterer Stephen Bridges - an “S” and “B” stamped within the spokes of a wheel.