The hoard of pewter spoons from City Mills

A group of 17 pewter spoons was discovered during engineering works at City Mills in 1925. They range in date from c. 1500 to c.1650-75. The hoard offers a rare insight into the sort of pewter to be seen in Exeter homes. Such material rarely survives because domestic pewter was usually melted down when worn or unfashionable. A selection of five of these spoons is shown here. On the extreme left is the ‘Apostle’ spoon, and beside it a ‘Maidenhead’ spoon. Each is described individually below. The others are ‘slip-top’ spoons, i.e. with plain handles. They show a variety of maker’s stamps and initials, punched onto the bowls of each spoon.

Publication: Homer, R. 1991 ‘A Seventeenth-Century Hoard of Pewter Spoons from Exeter’, 'Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society' (49), pp 149-52.

Acknowledgments: RAM Museum