Set of Salt Spoons

Artist/Maker
Holland, Thomas
Place Made
Temple Bar District London Great Britain
Date Made
1792
Medium
silver
Dimensions
LOA: 4 1/3″
Accession Number
5794.1-4
Description
DESCRIPTION: Set of four silver salt spoons with gold wash bowls and tapered handles with rounded ends. Made with accompanying salt cellars (see MESDA Acc. 5794.7-10).

INSCRIPTION: Engraved on face of handle with the script intial “S” for Thomas Littleton Savage (1760-1813) of Northampton Co., Virginia.

MARK: Struck on reverse of handles with “TH” maker’s mark (Thomas Holland), sterling standard mark (full-body lion facing left), date letter for 1792 (lowercase roman “r” in an oval shield), and English duty mark (profile of King George III). All are intaglio marks in oval or rectangular reserves.

MAKER: Silversmith Thomas Holland entered his mark with the London Assay Office in 1798. His shop was on Fleet Street in the Temple Bar District of London.

FORM: By the end of the eighteenth century, spoons were crafted for such specific purposes as serving salt and sugar (salt spoons), food items (serving spoons), punch and soup (ladles), and for stirring tea or coffee and/or eating custard or ice cream (teaspoons).

History
Most likely purchased by Thomas Littleton Savage (1760-1813), grandson of Thomas Savage (1691-1737)–builder and first owner of Cherry Grove Plantation in Northampton Co., Virginia–and son of Nathaniel Littleton Savage (1726-1793). Inherited from Thomas Littleton Savages’s daughter, Mary Burton Savage (1804-1866), who married William Lyttleton Eyre, Jr. (1806-1852) of Eyre Hall in Northampton Co., Virginia.
Artist Biography
Silversmith Thomas Holland entered his mark with the London Assay Office in 1798. His shop was on Fleet Street in the Temple Bar District of London.
Artist Working Dates
1791-1815
Credit Line
Gift of DeCourcy E. McIntosh