Spoons Made From Columbian Commemorative Half Dollars

winscout · February 8, 2018 9:05AM

I have a couple of examples of spoons made from Columbian Half Dollars in my collection. I am trying to find out more about these pieces and am looking for examples that I don't currently have for a future ANA exhibit. Any help from the forum would be most appreciated.

BillJones · February 8, 2018 9:13AM

If you could post pictures, you might get more responses. I am well aware of the spoons that have 1903 Louisiana Exposition gold dollars in their bowls, but I have never seen a Columbia half dollar used that way.

How do you know that silver from melted Columbian half dollars was used?

JBK · February 8, 2018 9:13AM

I don't have any but would love to see some - how about some pictures?

Outhaul · February 8, 2018 9:20AM

Please send them to me for further evaluation...

I assure you that you may get them back.

Cheers

Bob

tyler267 · February 8, 2018 2:56PM

I would like to see them also. Are the bowls made from Columbian Halves?

jmlanzaf · February 8, 2018 3:27PM

Interesting items. Not uncommon really. Stacks recently sold a giant collection of various items (spoons, jewelry, belt buckls, napkin rings, etc.) made out of Hawaii dollars.

Friend of mine had a giant silver tray, the whole bottom of which was made of Morgan dollars.

The number of different Columbian expo spoons (with or without coins) is astronomical.

spoonplanet.com/columbian.html

pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/history-of-souvenir-spoons/

https://amazon.com/001-Worlds-Spoons-Columbian-Exposition/dp/0961482400

https://ebay.com/itm/1892-Columbian-Half-Dollar-Columbian-Expo-Spoon-/371926558598

winscout · February 8, 2018 6:41PM

I guess it would help if I attached some photos. These photos are of the three Gorham produced spoons.

ricko · February 9, 2018 8:38AM

@winscout....Welcome aboard....Those are very attractive... have not seen them before ... and both sides of the coin are visible...nicely done. Cheers, RickO

tyler267 · February 10, 2018 8:47AM

Thank you for posting the photos.

I have never seen those, they are cool.

JBK · February 10, 2018 9:17AM

I would like to see one in person. Is it one coin with a cutout in the bowl and then soldered into place? Is it two coins? Is it one coin that is halved and each half soldered onto each side of the bowl?

BTW - so far everyone thinks those are neat (including me) but weren't those just the coin novelty junk of their day? Do some of us need to reassess our perspective on coin-based stuff?

winscout · February 10, 2018 11:20PM

These are high quality spoons made by the Gorham Silver company. It is a single coin that is soldered in place or pressure fit into a cutout in the bowl. This was not novelty junk of the day. We have some information from the original Gorham records. Gorham paid the going price for the coins in 1893 of $1.00 each. One of the patterns (Columbus being greeted) was part of a set that had various buildings pictured in the bowls of the spoons.

jmlanzaf · February 11, 2018 4:15AM

@winscout said:
These are high quality spoons made by the Gorham Silver company. It is a single coin that is soldered in place or pressure fit into a cutout in the bowl. This was not novelty junk of the day. We have some information from the original Gorham records. Gorham paid the going price for the coins in 1893 of $1.00 each. One of the patterns (Columbus being greeted) was part of a set that had various buildings pictured in the bowls of the spoons.

I don't know. I kind of think it would count as novelty junk. If you went to a national park now and saw a souvenir spoon (they still make them) with the corresponding park quarter in the bowl of the spoon, wouldn't you call it "novelty junk"?

topstuf · February 11, 2018 5:29AM

No. I'd call it a precious memento of my idiotic visit to Hordes of Tourists Nat'l Park.

topstuf · February 11, 2018 5:31AM

That's very near Pricey Junkfood Nat'l Monument.

JBK · February 12, 2018 7:52AM

The mint did offer state quarter spoons early on. Not pure silver, but still a novelty that most serious coin collectors ignored.

Most of us love the Columbian spoons. Will we also have a change of heart about the state quarter spoons in future decades?

Treashunt · February 12, 2018 8:11AM

Highly collectible, years ago I had a large Columbian Expo collection of everything, from books, to So-Called $'s, to plates etc, etc.
I had a bunch of spoons also, but none of these.

Treashunt · February 12, 2018 8:12AM

@jmlanzaf said:

@winscout said:
These are high quality spoons made by the Gorham Silver company. It is a single coin that is soldered in place or pressure fit into a cutout in the bowl. This was not novelty junk of the day. We have some information from the original Gorham records. Gorham paid the going price for the coins in 1893 of $1.00 each. One of the patterns (Columbus being greeted) was part of a set that had various buildings pictured in the bowls of the spoons.

I don't know. I kind of think it would count as novelty junk. If you went to a national park now and saw a souvenir spoon (they still make them) with the corresponding park quarter in the bowl of the spoon, wouldn't you call it "novelty junk"?

they are very far from junk, very collectible

JBK · February 12, 2018 9:16AM

I think some people are missing the point. Yes they are very collectable, Yes they are nice. But in their time - in the era when they were made - they were coin-related novelties. Most coin collectors seem to avoid such things that are currently being made, now, in their current era. The passage of time often gives some things a new level of desirability or acceptance that they might not have had when they were being produced. How many coin collectors collect the Mint's state quarter spoons today? (Not many). How may people will find them to be interesting and collectable 100 years from now? (Probably more than a few.).

jmlanzaf · February 12, 2018 10:35AM

@Treashunt said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@winscout said:
These are high quality spoons made by the Gorham Silver company. It is a single coin that is soldered in place or pressure fit into a cutout in the bowl. This was not novelty junk of the day. We have some information from the original Gorham records. Gorham paid the going price for the coins in 1893 of $1.00 each. One of the patterns (Columbus being greeted) was part of a set that had various buildings pictured in the bowls of the spoons.

I don't know. I kind of think it would count as novelty junk. If you went to a national park now and saw a souvenir spoon (they still make them) with the corresponding park quarter in the bowl of the spoon, wouldn't you call it "novelty junk"?

they are very far from junk, very collectible

They are NOW. At the time, they were novelty junk. The Columbian Expo is one of the biggest souvenir spoon events of all time. I have a lot of them. I like them. They are NOW very collectible. They were then, collectible. But at the time, you'd have to call them novelty junk, like so much of the thousands of Expo items produced.

jmlanzaf · February 12, 2018 10:39AM

@JBK said:
I think some people are missing the point. Yes they are very collectable, Yes they are nice. But in their time - in the era when they were made - they were coin-related novelties. Most coin collectors seem to avoid such things that are currently being made, now, in their current era. The passage of time often gives some things a new level of desirability or acceptance that they might not have had when they were being produced. How many coin collectors collect the Mint's state quarter spoons today? (Not many). How may people will find them to be interesting and collectable 100 years from now? (Probably more than a few.).

This! This! This!

Coinstartled · February 12, 2018 11:08AM

Cool looking spoons.

davewesen · February 12, 2018 3:09PM

@JBK said:
I think some people are missing the point. Yes they are very collectable, Yes they are nice. But in their time - in the era when they were made - they were coin-related novelties. Most coin collectors seem to avoid such things that are currently being made, now, in their current era. The passage of time often gives some things a new level of desirability or acceptance that they might not have had when they were being produced. How many coin collectors collect the Mint's state quarter spoons today? (Not many). How may people will find them to be interesting and collectable 100 years from now? (Probably more than a few.).

I suspect there were more spoon collectors at that time than coin collectors.

pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/history-of-souvenir-spoons/

asheland · February 13, 2018 1:20PM

The Gorham ones are cool!

winscout · October 7, 2019 2:14PM

Besides the Gorham spoons with Columbian half dollars in the bowls, here are a few other spoons from my collection made with Columbian halves. Does anyone else have anything like these? I would love to see photos of your examples. Always looking for background on these and other US coin spoons.