A little off topic

justcollecting

I've done a search and the coin forum is the only forum to list these. I have a small collection of early Souvenir sterling silver spoons. They truly are a work of art. I would think they would have some collector value but most of what i found sell for melt value. Anyone have any collector info on these? I borrowed an image from @weiss to show an example.

lilolme

I know nothing (sergeant Schultz).
The AYP expo came up as Alaska Yukon Pacific Expo.
This website came up also with some AYP spoons.

https://vatican.com/Souvenir-Spoons-Alaska-Yukon-Pacific-Expo/

Zoins

@justcollecting said:
They truly are a work of art. I would think they would have some collector value but most of what i found sell for melt value.

I agree they are wonderful works of art and it would be great if there was more collecting focus around these.

The thing about collecting these is that spoons seem hard to store as collectibles. How do you store yours?

I can think of the old wooden medal and coin chests, but they were large and I don't think many people use them anymore.

Utensil chests like this one assume people want to stack them which may not be ideal.

@justcollecting said:
Anyone have any collector info on these?

Paul Middents did a great article on these back in 2017:

Joseph Mayer and the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition “Dollars, Spoons, Tower Clocks and Telegraph Keys”

jmlanzaf

There is some mild interest in them. I actually collect them. However, 90% of the time in buying them for a little over melt. It's one of those things where the premium disappears when the silver price goes up. They are fun and interesting and often very attractive. However, most of them are common as dirt and there are not a lot of collectors.

Zoins

@jmlanzaf said:
There is some mild interest in them. I actually collect them. However, 90% of the time in buying them for a little over melt. It's one of those things where the premium disappears when the silver price goes up. They are fun and interesting and often very attractive. However, most of them are common as dirt and there are not a lot of collectors.

Do you think having high resolution photos like TrueViews would help?

The spoons have a lot of detail and I could imagine staring at the details in a photo.

one of the things to contend with may be the dual orientation of the handle and bowl as seen in the OP.

ricko

Years ago, commemorative type spoons, or location spoons (i.e. state, city etc.) were collected by older ladies. Now I am old, and none of my female acquaintances/relatives collect spoons. Likely just get melt value unless you get lucky and hit a rare collector. Cheers, RickO

291fifth

They are a good example of a collectible that was once quite popular but has since fallen out of favor. In order for them to recover in value many young collectors would have to develop an interest in them. I think that is very. very doubtful.

Weiss

It's my understanding these became popular around the Columbian Exposition (1892), as transportation allowed for greater travel for the masses. Originally beginning as hand-engraved pieces of art done by local artists at popular tourist attractions, silverware manufacturers got in on the growing fad and began striking ornate handles, then ornate bowls, replacing the need for hand-engraving. On the above example, the bowl and the handle are die-struck obverse and reverse.

Some of these are genuinely spectacular. The early engraved pieces are really pieces of art and are essentially unique. And in my opinion, the really well designed die-struck pieces rival the best medals of the time. Many are at least 100 years old now. Imagine the losses these suffered in the great meltings of the 1980s. Some of those are undoubtedly R7 or R8.

But there is almost no market for them. Exceptional pieces--I mean rare, amazing design and pristine condition--sell for less than $100.

I can see these becoming a sleeper hit. Slabbing might help. A couple of good online resources and market pricing definitely would. More exposure to the collecting public, a few key auctions via HA, etc.

CoinHoarder

Picked all these silver spoons up at from my coin dealer back around 2007. They were probably 3-6 dollars each at the time. They are the only ones that I have. One spoon shows it is a souvenir from Garden City Kansas. Another shows a child's date of birth. If I remember correctly, my dealer said that souvenir silver spoons were popular gifts before the use of post cards.

jmlanzaf

@Zoins said:

@jmlanzaf said:
There is some mild interest in them. I actually collect them. However, 90% of the time in buying them for a little over melt. It's one of those things where the premium disappears when the silver price goes up. They are fun and interesting and often very attractive. However, most of them are common as dirt and there are not a lot of collectors.

Do you think having high resolution photos like TrueViews would help?

The spoons have a lot of detail and I could imagine staring at the details in a photo.

one of the things to contend with may be the dual orientation of the handle and bowl as seen in the OP.

No

Zoins

@Weiss said:
It's my understanding these became popular around the Columbian Exposition (1892), as transportation allowed for greater travel for the masses. Originally beginning as hand-engraved pieces of art done by local artists at popular tourist attractions, silverware manufacturers got in on the growing fad and began striking ornate handles, then ornate bowls, replacing the need for hand-engraving. On the above example, the bowl and the handle are die-struck obverse and reverse.

Some of these are genuinely spectacular. The early engraved pieces are really pieces of art and are essentially unique. And in my opinion, the really well designed die-struck pieces rival the best medals of the time. Many are at least 100 years old now. Imagine the losses these suffered in the great meltings of the 1980s. Some of those are undoubtedly R7 or R8.

But there is almost no market for them. Exceptional pieces--I mean rare, amazing design and pristine condition--sell for less than $100.

I can see these becoming a sleeper hit. Slabbing might help. A couple of good online resources and market pricing definitely would. More exposure to the collecting public, a few key auctions via HA, etc.

Good background on these and I agree with the engraving, slabbing, cataloging and market pricing.

There's a few spoons and variations in the Paul Middents guide but no catalog numbers which I imagine would help. The guide has a lot of interesting info including the following.

This is a super interesting cross over item with a real gold token.

A copy of the US design patent. So many pieces during this time say they are patented or have applied for patents. I think it could be really interesting to track all of these down. This is listed on Google Patents as well:

• Google Patents: https://patents.google.com/patent/USD38695S/

JBK

Some great information in the above posts.

World's Fair/Exposition collectables have their own collectors so there may be crossover interest.

thebeav

I've had my best sale results with sterling spoons that were connected with fairs and expos. The Pan Am, Pan Pacific, and the Alaska-Yukon, as examples.
While detailed and lovely, it's very difficult to find a premium buyer for a beautiful spoon commemorating Public School #6.

Klif50

The US Mint sold souvenir spoons featuring the design of the State Hood quarters initially. I don't believe they carried it through the entire production and I don't remember them being sterling. I bought them for the initial 5 or 6 issues but just put them away and never opened the packaging. I wouldn't think they would be worth much now unless they were in fact silver and then they would be worth melt.

asheland

I’m a silver collector in addition to coins, indeed most souvenir spoons only sell for the metal value sadly. There are exceptions, and you kind of know them when you see them…

I only buy them if they’re just really interesting to me or if they’re some of the better ones. Like Weiss said, definitely a sleeper series. 👍

asheland

These are slightly better and I like them anyway:

And to show you where Silver collecting leads if you’re not careful:

In the big picture you can see the full Indian, as far as I know that’s one of the better ones, and also, I like it…

DisneyFan

It was not too long ago when kitchens would have a souvenir spoons display rack hanging in them. Just like Christmas plates. There are a few books on them out there - I think the last one was published in 1998. It's a little more fun than collecting silver bars.

When silver hits $100, I'm selling all of my sterling silver!

DisneyFan

I recall reading years ago that a Mary Baker Eddy souvenir spoon was a desirable item. Just for fun I checked souvenir spoons on ebay today and guess what, there was one up for auction. Final price $66 plus $10 shipping - four bidders.

Zoins

@DisneyFan said:
It was not too long ago when kitchens would have a souvenir spoons display rack hanging in them. Just like Christmas plates. There are a few books on them out there - I think the last one was published in 1998. It's a little more fun than collecting silver bars.

When silver hits $100, I'm selling all of my sterling silver!

Good thought. I just looked up some spoon display cabinets and found ones like this:

https://www.finehomedisplays.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SF1105

AUandAG

My great uncle, George Blakeslee was a spoon maker in Goldfield, NV back in the very early 1900's. His spoons are not cheap but then again a lot of old mining camp spoons are pricey and some downright rare. Here's a link to an ebay spoon from Uncle George (t's not usually this pricey but maybe prices are rising. https://www.ebay.com/itm/371927056356?

TomB

In my opinion, they are kind of like the silver version of those old Hummel figurines in that at one time in the twentieth century they were wildly popular and widely collected only to now be in every "old person's" estate and few want them. Of course, the spoons being silver are more liquid, but I imagine most Hummel figurines are at least a few bucks more than most spoons.

DisneyFan

@AUandAG said:
My great uncle, George Blakeslee was a spoon maker in Goldfield, NV back in the very early 1900's. His spoons are not cheap but then again a lot of old mining camp spoons are pricey and some downright rare. Here's a link to an ebay spoon from Uncle George (t's not usually this pricey but maybe prices are rising. https://www.ebay.com/itm/371927056356?

Interesting spoon; but, the asking price may not be realistic. I see listing was "Last updated on May 28, 2020 10:32:41 PDT"