- WILLIAM MATHEW / MATTHEW ENGLISH SILVER RAT-TAILED TREFID SPOON LONDON 1698

Description

Awaiting your purchase is a rare 17th century English silver ribbed rat tail trefid spoon made by the silversmith and specialist spoonmaker
William Mathew I
of
London
and bearing a clear set of marks for
1698,
including a good example of his maker's mark
and an excellent date letter. The seated Britannia mark, indicating a silver purity of 95.84%, is somewhat rubbed.
This spoon also has a well shaped bowl with little if any wear to the tip, and still has its original period heraldic crest to the back of the handle – a wyvern with wings displayed rising out of a mural crown – and wedding initials A over SE. William Mathew is an important English maker and an apprentice of John Smith, whose other apprentices included Lawrence Coles and Jonathan and Walter Bradley. This superb spoon remains in
good to very good antique condition
overall with age-appropriate wear (see condition description) and is a fine early spoon for the collector!
- Length: 7 5/8in (19.3cm)
- Weight: 1.64 troy oz (51g)
skin A42 10129 10319