1891 Nathan & Hayes Solid Silver Pierced Cherub Design Bon Bon Spoon. Repaired

  

1891 Solid Silver Pierced Cherub Design Bon Bon Spoon. Featuring a seated cherub blowing a horn to the bowl and pierced foliate handle. Bon Bon spoons have a large and flat bowl, perforated to drop off crumbs, in order to serve bonbons, nuts, and other dry, crumbling foods. You could almost consider these a spatula, to some degree.

Fully hallmarked for Nathan & Hayes (George Nathan & Ridley Hayes), Birmingham assay office 1891. In poor pre-loved and clearly much used condition.

The neck of the handle has clearly snapped at some point and had an old repair. Whilst an obvious repair, it does not detract from the beauty of the piece. This is beautiful antique English Silver, with its own history and character. If you like items to be as new this, unfortunately, will not be right for you. Length: 10.98cm (4.32).

"Bowl" width: 3.77cm (1.48). A little bit about Bon Bons. The name bon bons stems from the French word "bon", which means "good". If you put the two bons together, you have something doubly good - a goody goody! Bon bon is the universal word in French for candy.

They haven't always been drenched in delectable chocolate. When they first became an exceptional gift to give, and receive, they were very different from what they are now. Long ago, the bon bon could also be a very small sweet made with sugar coated almonds, so small (and expensive) that the containers for them were miniature works of art.

Bon bons were all the craze during the late 1880's when chocolate manufacturing took off. Sterling silver baskets became popular for serving bon bons.

Bon bons were served to the French Royal Court. The Ladies of the Louvre Palace enjoyed their chocolate bonbons and they stored them in beautiful decorative boxes.

The ladies of the court offered their bon bons to others as a sign of courtesy and a gesture of distinction and good taste. One knew if they had fallen out of favor with the King, however, if they were not treated to a bon bon by a Lady. Because there was no preservatives or refrigeration, touching bon bons with your fingers was very messy and thus the bon bon spoon became popular to ensure they could be picked up cleanly, without using one's fingers. I have given it a quick wipe over, but as with all my items I don't over clean or polish. There may be the odd age related wear/mark commensurate with age, anything of note is listed above. Please see all photos using the zoom function available, as they constitute the item description. Please note where possible packaging is recycled. Does not provide a fully tracked service. Check out my other listings for more antique, vintage and collectable silver. If you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact me. This item is in the category "Antiques\Silver\Solid Silver\Other Solid Silver". The seller is "lucyadessy" and is located in this country: GB. This item can be shipped to United Kingdom, Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Republic of Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Australia, United States, Bahrain, Canada, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Barbados, Brunei Darussalam, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Grenada, French Guiana, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Macau, Monaco, Maldives, Montserrat, Martinique, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Paraguay, Reunion, Turks and Caicos Islands, Aruba, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Chile, Bahamas, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Kuwait, Panama, Philippines, Qatar, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam.

1. Product: Spoons
2. Brand: Nathan & Hayes
3. Pattern: Cherub
4. Antique: Yes
5. Composition: Solid Silver
6. Style: Victorian
7. Material: Solid Silver
8. Age: 1850-1899