What kinds of spoons turn up most?

Everything from teaspoons and caddy spoons up to basting, gravy and hash spoons. Single pieces and pairs make up the bulk of what is listed. The longest recorded are basting and hash spoons of 33cm and 35cm, and a Scottish hash spoon of 252 grams is among the heaviest single pieces named.

Are full canteens common in this category?

No. Canteen appears in only a dozen of 359 titles, and cutlery in a few more. The category is built on single pieces and small matched groups. When full services do appear they can be large: canteens of 154 and 158 pieces have been offered, with silver-plated sets running to 118 and 52 pieces.

How old is the earliest silver flatware listed?

The dealers' own dated field runs from 1700 to 1960, with 148 listings carrying a clean year. Sampled titles reach further back than that. A London spoon marked 1577 and an Elizabeth I seal-top of 1585 are the earliest pieces recorded on Sellingantiques, and a run of dates through the 1610s to the 1690s sits behind them.

Which assay offices appear on these pieces?

London is the default and the most often named, with Sheffield some way behind. Exeter, Newcastle, Chester and Glasgow recur. York, Southampton, Plymouth, Inverness, Dundee, Elgin and Arbroath each appear only once or twice, at the scarce end of the marks.

Is foreign silver flatware listed alongside English?

Yes, as a steady minority. Norwegian 830S, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, German and French .950 pieces all appear, along with Russian niello and cloisonné-enamelled spoons and American sterling. Scottish and Irish flatware also shows up in reasonable numbers, and provincial Newcastle and Glasgow caddy spoons turn up within that group.

What unusual table implements show up?

Once in a blue moon something outside ordinary dining appears: a game skewer, an apple corer, a roasting fork with a horn mount, a medicine spoon, a mote spoon, lobster picks, grape scissors. Each of those appears only once or twice across the whole category. More regular oddities are the stilton scoop, the fish slice and the marrow scoop, which recur often enough to count as standing types.

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Antique Silver Flatware

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Antique silver flatware is the eating and serving silver of the table - spoons above all, then ladles, forks, tongs, knives, slices and scoops - made for measuring tea, carving fish, lifting marrow or simply getting food from dish to plate.