Featured Japanese style silver spoon, cherry blossom, bamboo and fan.

Can anyone tell me more about this Japanese style little spoon?
It is not marked, but tests as silver. It looks like it could be part of a cherry blossom coffee spoon set, perhaps with different Japanese theme tops.
It is 10.1 cm / 3.97" long.
Thanks for looking.

 

Hi,
I have 5 or 6 little cocktail sticks with the same design as the bamboo handle and fan. They are marked silver.
greg

 

Hi Greg,
Interesting, do you have any idea where and when they were made?

 

Hi,
Nope, bought at a yard sale in the 1990s. Always thought they were late 50s early 60s. I have about 75 different sets. Used to use them a lot. Better than wooden toothpicks but I was a slight snob then.
greg

 

Don't worry, I've been there too.

 

The design is very reminiscent of the 'aesthetic' designs found on china in the late 1800's.

 

Ah! Kindred spirits!

 

Here are some images:

aesthetic porcelain fan bamboo

 

It is definitely Japanese, similar pieces generally accepted as post WWII, with their marks typical of the era. I have several single variants, and my Mom has three boxed sets - demitasse spoons with a regular oval bowls, made by Sakai, marked 'STERLING JAPAN'; salt spoons with cherry blossom bowls, marked 'STERLING'; and sippers with cherry blossom bowls and dangling charms, they are unmarked but test as sterling, and their box is from 'Joliffe's Oriental' in Denver, dating them as no earlier than 1950. She also has a set of figural place-card holders, marked 'STERLING 950' and 'MATUBA', along with the 'CPO-in-lozenge' (Central Procurement Organization) mark used from 1946-48 - this mark can also be found on spoons like yours. Have seen the slender bamboo stems on early 20th century souvenir spoons, but without the figural finials...

~Cheryl

 

Thanks everyone.
Cheryl your information has been very enlightening, so they are mid-century Japanese.

 

Thanks Jackatch. Yes, the aesthetic movement was very much inspired by Japan. Van Gogh (not aesthetic movement) coined the phrase Japonaiserie, after that the term Japonism was also introduced.
Well, the Japanese certainly know their design.

 

Now where has that quote gone...
See below

 

You too?!