Hello. My name is Rance Garrison. I'm from Norton, Virginia. This item is actually in my father's possession. He's a retiree currently living in Grey, Tennessee. You can reach us by calling me at 276-220-1673 or by e-mailing me at [email protected].
My father actually traded some china he had for this item.
From what I can gather, the item appears to be an apostle's spoon, which were given as baptismal gifts to the children of aristocrats from the late 1400s until the practice went out of style in the mid nineteenth century. Given the shepard's staff that the figure on the handle is holding, this particular spoon appears to be in honor of Saint James the Greater. The back of the bowl has several markings. I'm not sure if you can see this in the images, but one the markings is the number 15, and directly opposite is the number 14. My hypothesis is that this represents the year 1514. There are some other markings as well, but they are hard to make out, however they are listed in the distinguishing marks section. One appears to be a cross hatched W. From what I can gather this means it was made in an English foundry.
I was wondering if anyone could give me any indication of exactly what this might be and a rough estimate of what it might be worth.
Thank you for your time,
Rance J. Garrison
