George Washington is known as the 'father of our country', he led our troops during the Revolutionary War, he was our first President
and he established many of the customs and traditions which we still follow in this country.
During the souvenir spoon era George Washington was also regarded as the greatest of our historical founders by most of the population.
Many of the spoons simply honored the man and a lot of them also show the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. (named in his honor).
Some of the spoons capitalize on his membership in the Masonic Fraternity.
Some of the spoons are from the State of Washington (also named in his honor)
In a few instances, I have duplicates so I put the extra one so that you can see the workmanship on the back of the handle (but many of the others also have workmanship on the handle backs.
Forks are much rarer than spoons
On the right, the enamel on one of the spoons is damaged --that greatly lowers the value of the spoon
Next to that spoon is a statue of Lafayette -- spoons depicting Lafayette are rare.
These are demi sized spoons depicting Washington or Mt. Vernon (his home in Virginia) .
The sword spoons are related to his being a Mason.
The two spoons on the left are from the famous silver compay Galt & Bro. of Washington D.C.
Technically the Washington spoons from this company were the first souvenirspoons manufactured in the USA
but the impetus for the souvenir spoon era came from the infamous witch spoon.
More information on the Washington spoons by Galt may be seen by clicking here
all spoons are sterling
1. Virginia state handle with a lightly embossed view of the Washington monument, unidentified manufacturer
2. Cannon handle with a Washington DC view embossed in the bowl. Back of stem has large Washington monument image. unidentified manufacturer
3. pattern handle with an engraved view of Mary Washington's house, Paye/Baker
4. Wavy Baltimore Maryland state handle with embossed bowl of the Washington monument --unidentified manufacturer
This is the Washington Monument in Baltimore which was designed by Robert Mills who later designed the Washington monument in DC
5. flowered handle with an acid etched view of the Washington monument in the bowl by Whiting
1. This house was purchased by George for the use of his mother, Mary, in Fredericksburg, Virgina. She lived there for 17 years
2. This pointed shaped bowl features the capital building and a statue
George Washington
George Washington is known as the "father of our country" and we find many souvenir spoons using his image. The left picture shows his house, Mt. Vernon (Virginia), and the bowl shows the burial site. The middle spoon is the Washington monument in the city named after him, Washington D.C., and the rightmost picture is the reverse of the first spoon and says "First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Heart of his Countrymen".
left: An enameled view of the Washington Monument (at just over 555 feet, this is the tallest structure in Washington D.C. and the law forbids any taller structure from being built)
middle: The Washington Monument forms the handle on this spoon. The bottom has the date 1775, but I am not sure why it is there.
Right: back of the famous cannon handle spoon has an image of the Washington Monument -- sorry for the poor pic. The front of this spoon is shown in the Civil War exhibit.
George and Martha Washington
The Mount Vernon estate has been restored to its 18th century oppulence and may be visited by the public. In addition it is a great opportunity to learn about the Southern plantation system and the role of slavery in that era.
George Washington portrait with the White House embossed in the bowl. Although Washington never lived in the White House (since it was not built at that time), both images are intimately intertwined with the Presidency.
An interesting 20th century Art Deco spoon honoring George Washington. This applied medallion is soldered onto a conventional sterling spoon.
Washington "Father of His Country"
with a belt wrapped around a sword
This demi sized spoon features a sword handle with
Mount Vernon in the
bowl.
The back of the bowl features a portrait of George.
This sword capitalizes on his association with the Masonic Fraternity
This enameled sword spoon doesn't specifically mention George Washington, but it also capitalizes on the association with the Masonic Fraternity
George Washington riding a horse with his name in
script on the stem.
The very ornate embossed bowl just wouldn't scan nicely because it is
so
deep with an unusual shape, so I will describe it to you. It shows 16
distinct
British soldiers and an officer waiting on a landing and a boat with 5
rowers
who are holding their oars straight up in a salute as another officer
steps
into the boat. There are also two British warships (flying the Union
Jack)
waiting for the men departing the mainland. The date Nov. 25 is shown
in
a rope like script at the top of the bowl and the year 1783 is shown at
the
bottom of the bowl. It is incredible that there is this much detail in
a
small spoon bowl
Peace was officially proclaimed on April 19, 1783, but the last British
soldiers
departed on November 25. At that time Washington’s troops entered
New
York City.
Vis
The back of the stem has this neat skyline view of "New Amsterdam 1656"
More information on this scene is available under the torture spoon exhibit (from the main page)
the back of the bowl has this round coat of arms insignia
The spoon was made by Towle and patented in 1891.
This very nice full figural spoon of Washington is detailed on both sides. I thought the "pony tail" in the back was quite cute.
The enameled bowl was custom made for the Washington Chapter #43 of the Cleveland Knights in 1910 by Shepard Mfg.
This spoon shows George cutting down a cherry tree. Below that picture is his likeness and then an axe. The bowl has a picture of the Capitol building in Washington DC and the back of the handle has a picture of Mt. Vernon. This is the common story about George Washington refusing to lie. The whole story is a fabrication. There is absolutely no record of this story in the historical literature until the 1880's when a textbook publisher included the story in a biography of George so as to teach children a lesson in honesty. This story has become part of the social fabric of our nation and is still being taught to children even today. (Is there a disconnect here? Creating a fictitious story to teach truth telling?). Nevertheless, it is an interesting spoon.
Nice detailed picture of Mt. Vernon. The spoon is from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
which capitalized on Washington's membership in that organization.
This cast spoon features the image of George Washington standing in the boat as it is rowed across the river.