Among my personal favorites are spoons that are mounted with gemstones. In medieval times it was quite common to mount stones in silver objects, but the technique had been abandoned for several hundred years. The Art Nuevo movement repopularized the technique and we find many spoons in this style with semi-precious stones mounted on the handles.
The most popular stone was turquoise, because its blue color looks particularly nice against a silver background. But we also find agates of various colors, jade, opal (rare), white stones and various other colored stones.
Spoons made by Navajo and Zuni indians of the American Southwest also often contain turquoise which was considered to be the "sky stone".
Figure 1 is a particularly nice Navajo salad set with turquoise mounted in the handle. This is made in the Arts and Crafts style, rather than the usual Navajo and Zuni style.
Figure 2 is an unusual shaped bowl with an agate handle.
The bottom spoon is made by Kirk Silversmiths and has a nice emerald green jadeite mounted on the handle. You should also note the particularly nice engraved swirls and designs. The upper two spoons are more conventionally looking with nice pieces of turquoise inset.
The small spoon has a 14 karat gold finial made from Alaskan gold in honor of the Alaska Yukon Purchase Exposition. The larger spoon shows two raw gold nuggets from Dawson. It was probably made for a miner returning home .
The center spoon has a natural gold nugget from the Yukon territory and a nice embossed bowl of an Alaskan scene. The two turquoise spoons are conventional spoons that have been modified by Indian silversmiths by the addition of stones and chasing for resale to the souvenir trade. I particularly enjoy the oblong shape of the green/blue turquoise.
The spoon below has a white stone which looks like a miners cut diamond mounted in it. The quality of the stone is not particularly good as it has suffered damage. It was probably removed from another piece of jewelry and mounted in the spoon which was then made a gift to "Nannie".
Emerald from Bogota, Columbia
The emerald is small (very expensive) located just to the right of the "A" and held in place by four silver prongs.
This tiny demi spoon has 12 small round pieces of blue turquoise
The unusual spoon shown here is all handmade and features a large brown banded agate with a hand hammered bowl. This piece could have also been displayed under the "Arts and Crafts" spoon category.
These spoons are from China and have pieces of jadeite mounted. The center one is also carved.
The spoons pictured are from Israel. They have turquoise, malachite and azurite stones mounted in conventionally produced souvenir spoons (These stones are all chemically related "close relatives"). Since the State of Israel was not founded until 1946, we must assume that these pieces were produced after that date.
Spoons made by the American Southwest Indians (Navajo and Zuni) often have gemstones mounted in them. They typically use turquoise, but will sometimes use related stones.
These pieces from Brazil have uncut stones(right 3 spoons) mounted above the bow in hand produced spoons. These are all crystalline. One is believe to be amethyst, a citrine and a light green one which has not yet been identified. The leftmost spoon is rose quartz.
Both of these spoons are unmarked and are of unknown origin. The one on the left is an agate and appears to be handmade in a conventional shape. It is probably American. The one on the right is a very large fresh water pearl. It is also handmade and has a hand engraved in the bowl.
This spoon is also unmarked and origin is unknown. After discussion with several experts we believe that it is probably a baptism spoon from Russia or Afghanistan. The red stone is coral.
The Danish spoon (left) is an unusual Art Deco style and features a moonstone with the typical chatoyancy found in such stones. The opal on the right is very unusual. This Australian piece is hand made in the Arts and Crafts style and has a foiled black opal mounted.
The large custom hammered filigree spoon is from Germany and features a large red faceted stone. The small gourd (pumpkin) is also handmade (origin not traced) and features three small red stones (probably garnets). The flower finial coin bowl spoon from Bolivia features a stamen with a pearl on the end.
This spoon has a loose pearl enclosed in a "silver cage"
Birthstone spoon (has small pearl embedded in the handle-not the picture above)
The poem in the bowl reads:
"June,
Who comes with summer
to this earth
and owes to June
her day of BIRTH,
With ring of pearl
on her hand
can health, wealth and
peace command."
Four small spoons with nice turquoise insets. Some with back loops for hanging from a chain
Probably purpose was cocaine or snuff, but could have been "ear" spoons for a chatelaine.
I delight in finding spoons with unusual gemstones. This spoon with a nice piece of amber mounted at the finial is of recent construction, but is definitely unusual
This spoon features an Ivory handle which is topped by a large silver ball. The bowl is engraved with flowers. The only mark is the silversmith's mark "SF". I can't give further specifics--only guesses, so if anyone else has further info, please email me.
Click for more information on Turquoise
Click to see Japanese oyster spoons with heart shaped gemstones
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