A small Lead (Pb) spoon

On the topic of small spoons- I found this a few weeks ago at a Salvation army. It's Lead, like the metal which causes poisoning, so certainly was made some time ago. There are no marks whatsoever, but any details on age or period when the production of little lead spoons was a thing is appreciated.

 

Is it 100% lead? Or an alloy with other metals?

Pewter utensils used to be very common (typical household could not afford silver ones.) and pewter used to contain a substantial percentage of lead in the alloy. I would estimate that pewter utensils would have been common in the late 1700's into the first half of the 1800's when"german silver" became more available and closer to 1850 when silverplating became more economical and more widely available.

 

I can't imagine there's any Tin in it- its so soft I could twist it into a knot-

 

Hi, I know this post is 3 years old but it appears that I have the exact same spoon and was also wondering. Couldn't possibly tell you where I got it, but it is really soft and bendable as you said.

I also tried cutting it with a knife, which could really be possible in like 3 minutes with a bit of force. You can see the mark I left on the 2nd lower part in the first picture (right side).

There's also a symbol on the other side, it that can help with the identification

 

Pewter with 95% tin. It says "Rare Peltro 95%." Hard to tell from photograph. Does it also say "Fait A Main"?

Debora

 

Ok quick reply but apparently the whole symbol reads as follow : "Lavorazione a mano Rama peltro 95%". If I'm not wrong, it should be an Italian pewter spoon made from an alloy with 95% tin and copper. Can't date it but here's a better view of the symbol found on internet

 

Ah, so the maker is RAMA?

Debora