This 'ugly' creature is a possum. In my experience this is one of the ugliest creatures I have ever seen.
This rare sterling spoon is engraved Onawa, Ia in the bowl.
When Theodore Roosevelt was President the toy manufacturers created a 'teddy bear' in his honor based on a story that he refused to shoot a chained bear.
The toy became a huge seller and there was a world wide market demand for teddy bears which created a lot of financial success.
There are a few teddy bear spoons --but I don't have any to show you.
However, when Theodore Roosevelt's term was ending, his favorite candidate for President was William (Bill) Taft.
Taft was known to like to eat and one of his favorite meals was possum.
The stuffed animal toy makers figured that the demand for 'teddybears' would soon disappear (they were very wrong) and they
tried to create a new product --Billie Possum stuffed animals.
There was a national advertising campaign to sell Billie Possum stuffed animals.
It was a huge failure.
This spoon and a few other products were made trying to capitalize on this new craze.
note: there is one other style of billie possum spoon, but I don't have a picture for you.
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