Victorian John Round & Son Silver-Plated Berry Spoons – Set of Four, Registered Design 1866

Victorian John Round & Son Silver-Plated Berry Spoons – Set of Four, Registered Design 1866

Berry spoons belonged to the summer table, when strawberries arrived in bowls and the cream was never far behind.

The fashion for berry spoons took hold in the Victorian period, when plain Georgian tablespoons were embossed with fruit and their bowls gilded, and makers soon produced new spoons in the same spirit. Electroplating brought the look within reach of many more households. John Round & Son of Sheffield was among the city’s leading electroplate manufacturers in the second half of the nineteenth century. Between 1842 and 1883, British designs could be protected by registration, recorded with a diamond-shaped mark, and the registration mark on these spoons dates the design to 20 April 1866.

Each spoon has an oval bowl with a shaped, fluted rim, embossed in high relief with clusters of fruit and leaves against a finely textured ground, and gilded throughout. The silver-plated handles are reeded, edged with beading and scrolled at the shoulder, and they end in a plain round cartouche framed by a beaded border. The back of each handle carries a row of maker’s marks in the style of hallmarks, as was usual on Victorian electroplate, and the diamond registration mark.

The set is in excellent condition.

Key Details

• Maker: John Round & Son, Sheffield
• Marks: maker’s marks in the style of hallmarks; diamond registration mark (class I, metal) dating the design to 20 April 1866
• Period: Victorian
• Material: electroplated silver, with gilt bowls
• Quantity: four spoons
• Length: 22.7 cm each
• Weight: 80 g each; 320 g for the set
• Condition: excellent
• Buyer profile: anyone who enjoys setting a summer dessert table; collectors of Victorian tableware

Collector Appeal

A matching set of four is more useful than a single spoon or pair, and the bright gilt bowls show the embossed fruit at its best. A known Sheffield maker and a registered design date give the set a clear place in the history of Victorian electroplate.

Still waiting for the strawberries.