A beautifully carved 19th century Welsh ‘Dolphin’ shaped beech spoon.
North Wales circa 1860
7½” long / 19cm long
£395.00
From ‘Guide to the Collection illustrating Welsh Folk Crafts & Industies” by Iorweth C. Peate & published & by the National Museum of Wales 1935.
”Caernarfonshire seems to have evolved a wooden spoon of a definite type, and the feature characteristic of the type (even shown in the love-spoons of the county) is a strengthening and ridging of the stem until it is often dolphin-shaped. In addition,the bowl and tip of the handle are sometimes set at an angle to the main stem, the spoon of this type being known as a ‘crooked spoon’ (Llwy gam); one of its essential qualities being that the tip of the bowl and of the handle as well as the highest point of the ridged stem, shall be in a straight line. These spoons are not turned, an axe, a pocket-knife and a small curved knife (twca cam) being the only tools used.”
From ‘Treen and other wooden bygones, by Edward H Pinto 1968 (many similar spoons are illustrated)
Spoons ‘…The Caernarvon crooked spoons of sycamore, 18th or 19th century, are traditional and peculiar to Caernarvon; they are said to be particularly useful for teaching small children to eat, as the angle of the bowl, in relation to the handle, facilitates tilting into the mouth, which is true.
From ‘Traditional Spooncarving in Wales, by Gwyndaf Breese & published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch 2006
’It is difficult to determine regional variation in other parts of Wales – there were no established woodturning centres in North Wales, for example.in Iorweth Peate’s book on Welsh rural craftsmen, Y Crefftwr Yang Nghymru, which covers the period of the 1920s and earlier, a Caernarfonshire spoon maker describes the kind of spoon he made, which was known in the trade as the ‘fish back’, as it had a slight hollow in the face of the flat handle, and when laid on a level surface was expected to make contact at three points.
See also: Treen for the Table, by Jonathan Levi & published by the Antique Collectors Club 1998 – for examples of similar spoons.
