Sterling Silver Spoon-Fork (Spork) | Five Tines | Marked “STL. SILVER”

Sterling Silver Spoon-Fork (Spork) | Five Tines | Marked “STL. SILVER”

Half spoon, half fork: an object that declines to choose, and is the more useful for it.

The spoon-fork combines a spoon’s bowl with a fork’s tines in a single piece. This example is in sterling silver, marked “STL. SILVER”. It carries no maker’s mark or country mark, so its maker and origin are unidentified.

The spoon-shaped bowl ends in five pointed tines. A plain, tapering stem rises to a narrow collar, above which sits a plain cylindrical handle with a rounded end. The “STL. SILVER” mark is struck in a rectangular punch on the stem, just below the collar.

Excellent condition, with no dents or other issues.

Key Details

• Maker: unidentified
• Origin: unidentified
• Marks: “STL. SILVER”; no maker’s or country mark
• Form: spoon-fork with five tines, collared stem and cylindrical handle
• Material: sterling silver
• Dimensions: length 18 cm; width 4 cm; height 1.4 cm
• Weight: 40 g
• Condition: excellent
• Buyer profile: collectors of silver flatware and unusual table silver

Collector Appeal

A restrained design with a five-tined bowl, slender stem and neatly defined collar. Its combination of spoon and fork gives the piece an individual character, and makes it a distinctive addition to a collection of silver flatware or table implements.

An object that does two jobs well rarely needs to announce either of them.