Featured Lily of the Valley Spoons:

What an incredible collection! I've been looking for the Reed and Barton Lily of the Valley spoon for a little while now—it's almost impossible to find on the internet, even just a picture. Your picture here is the first time I've really seen it in all its glory, and it's exceptional. Where did you find yours? If you have any leads on where to find another one, it's one of the last ones I need to complete my Harlequin collection

 

Hello @TriangularCoyote & welcome to the forum!!

@DragonflyWink - You have added another member to the very long list of people who love to drool over your spoon collection.

 

Thank you for the welcome! And, it's certainly a drool-worthy collection!

 

Thanks for the compliments! Found that Lily of the Valley spoon many years ago (the bowl is acid-etched as a 'Chicago' souvenir), it was most likely acquired online, if you're including 'Reed & Barton' in your searches, might suggest trying without, since not all sellers recognize maker's marks (it wouldn't be marked with 'REED & BARTON', but with the earlier 'eagle/R/lion' trademark). I did see one on eBay a while back, so they're out there - looked for it, but unfortunately it was sold.

Are you collecting the coffee/demitasse size spoons? How many have you found? I have late 1891 to early 1893 patents on file for 18 different flowers, with 4 of the flowers done twice with changes, for a total of 22, have run across a few other designs as well. The 1893 ads below show the two different size spoons, note the Forget-Me-Not and Wild Rose spoons are different (patent not found for the 5 o'clock Wild Rose variant). Should mention that while the 'Harlequin' in those ads is most likely referring to a set of different but similar or complementary pieces, when the sets of sterling spoons were reintroduced in the 1940s, along with the tidbit sets, 'Harlequin' became the pattern name, though the silverplate versions were actually called 'Fiesta' party sets.








~Cheryl

 

~Cheryl

 

@DragonflyWink - You are so kind & gracious for providing all this information!!

Hopefully, your help & all the information provided will help @TriangularCoyote to find the spoon needed to complete her set.

 

Awww, thanks Peggy!

~Cheryl

 

I'll add , Cheryl .. that you help make this site , better than most others !!

& I always look forward to your posts !!!

 

@DragonflyWink Wow! This is an incredible trove of information! Thank you so much for taking the time to share all of this. The advertisements are super useful. I had found some of the patents, but I don't think I had found 18 different ones. From my research, I believe there are 13 demitasse spoons and 15 5 o'clock spoons, as well as a couple other pieces made using the same patterns.

Demitasse patterns (4 inches): Apple Blossom, Calla Lily, Daisy, Forget-me-not, Goldenrod, Hollyhock, Lily of the Valley, Pansy, Primrose, Tree Rose, Violet, Water Lily, Wild Rose.

5 O'Clock patterns (5 1/8 inches): Apple Blossom, Bachelor's Button, Chrysanthemum, Forget-me-not, Goldenrod, Hollyhock, Magnolia, Mayflower, Myrtle, Orange Blossom, Orchid, Pansy, Strawberry, Tree Rose, Wild Rose

7 repeated flowers in two different designs, 14 non-repeated flowers, for a total of 28 different flower designs.

I've also found 5 3/4 inch teaspoon in Goldenrod (5 o'clock), a citrus spoon in orange blossom, a chocolate spoon in wild rose (5 o'clock), sugar tongs in daisy, an iced tea spoon (7 3/4) in wild rose (5 o'clock), a sugar shell spoon in wild rose (5 o'clock), and a salt spoon in wild rose (5 o'clock).

Then there's the party set/tid bit set, which comes in varied flowers or all wild rose.

I've seen 2 other citrus spoons, an ice cream fork, and also a long olive fork as well, but I don't know if they're remade with the handle grafted onto a new piece or originals.

In an incredible turn of events, yesterday I was actually able to complete my spoon collection. I was missing from the 5 O'Clock spoons Mayflower, Strawberry, and Orange Blossom, and I was able to bid for them at an auction and win them. And then completely out of the blue, one of my mother's friends found a set of 11 demitasse spoons in his own mother's house that he's cleaning out, which included a Lily of the Valley. And in a remarkably gracious move, he gifted them to me. I'm still a little heady that it all happened so quickly. Perhaps it will feel more real when I have all of them in my possession.

If it's something that would be of interest, I'd be happy to post pictures of everything when I get them!

 

I just read your introduction, my sincere condolences on the loss of your grandmother, and what a lovely way to honor her memory.

Congratulations on such a rapid completion of your set, and it's kismet that your friend is enabling the end of your mission (though you may find even more with time) - you're a great hunter. I would love to see the collection, as I'm sure others would as well!

If you'd like, I can message you the numbers for the 22 patents I've found, and perhaps you have some I don't.
~Cheryl

 

Thank you very much. It's been quite a journey since we lost her. It has been fascinating though to clean out my grandparents' house and to learn quite a lot about them and the family that we didn't know before. It's just too bad that they didn't want to go thru anything while they were alive—I want to know the stories behind these pieces!

Yes, I would really appreciate that, I would be happy to share the ones I have back as well if they're not contained in the ones you have already.

As soon as I get the last 4 pieces I'm missing, I'll polish them up and make a thread with them all. It could also be a useful resource for anyone else looking for them—I've found not a lot of information easily accessible on the internet about these spoons.

 

I'll message you in a bit...

Looking forward to seeing them! Agree it would be a useful resource, and it's not just that there's not a lot of information available, but much of what is out there is incorrect - the reason I've been trying to provide more reliable info for several years now...

~Cheryl

 

Absolutely, when I get everything together, I'm excited to post them

 

When you do get ready to post the photos start your own thread. That way it will be easily searchable both by the forum members & by the internet at large. This site gets tons of bots & quite often a photo will hit the internet before the poster gets an answer.

BTW everyone here loves to see what other members collect. It is referred to as "eye candy".

However, it also helps other members become familiar with items they may not know too much about. Consequently, on future hunts, they may recognize an item in the wild that they can purchase for resale.