Live Auction 1126Centuries of Style
AN EDWARD IV SILVER PELLETED-BALL SPOON
Lot 321 THE BENSON COLLECTION
(LOTS 301-340)

AN EDWARD IV SILVER PELLETED-BALL SPOON

CIRCA 1435-1440

Closed4 June 2013

Price Realised

GBP 16,250

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AN EDWARD IV SILVER PELLETED-BALL SPOON
CIRCA 1435-1440
The fig-shaped bowl with slightly tapering facetted handle, terminating in a pelleted-ball shaped finial, marked in bowl with 'Arabian' leopard's head
6 5/8 in. (16.8 cm.) long
17 dwt. (26 gr.)

A Lady [Bruton, Knowles & Co.]; Christie's, London, 11 November 1959, lot 160 (£1,800 to How)
The Benson Collection.

Specialist note

Surviving spoons of this type are almost all of French origin. Also described as Strawberry or Fruitlet knop they appear in medieval wills. Constable op. cit. cites both a will of 1440 which includes six spoons 'de fradelett' and six others 'cum fetlettez' and six 'gilt spoons with strawberry knoppes' in an inventory of plate belonging to the Merchant Taylors' Company taken in 1512.