These spoons appear to be souvenir spoons which were made in the old
style of spoon making.
I had not realized that the souvenir spoon collecting fad had reached
Russia until a kind reader
helped me understand the writing on these spoons.
All of these spoons have the Russian 84 zolotnic silver mark
Kavkaz
historic area associated with the Caucasus region
Thanks to a kind reader, Anna Armarchuk, I can now give my readers
further insight into this unusual spoon.
The writing around the edge is basically translated as
"Eat bread and salt, tell the truth"
This is an old proverb from various Slavic areas.
Bread and salt are very common items used to greet guests and show the
host's hospitality.
The practice is used in most Slavic areas.
(The custom goes back centuries and was even used on the international
space station.)
The guest will dip the bread into salt (special containers were often
made for this ceremonial occasion.)
Why bread and salt? -- Jesus said "I am the bread of life" and said
"you are the salt of the earth"
After the greeting, the guests should talk truthfully to each other.
On the spoon above, the writing is along the edge. It is not possible
to take a picture from any angle to capture the entire message, so I
took 3 pictures and you will have to put them together in your mind
1. left side of handle
2. opposite handle
3. right side of handle
Does anybody recognize this scene?
After extensive research Anna and I have come to the conclusion that
this is a generalized
view of the churches in the Kremlin (Moscow) viewed from outside the
fortress walls. You can see
the fortress walls and the river bank wall near the bottom of the
scene. We could not find a picture
with this exact image from the time period of this spoon
(ca. 1900). If you have a different
interpretation, please let me know.
Many of the old churches were destroyed or modified during the Soviet
era.
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