Tea Spoon 1800 - 1830

This is a silver teaspoon, made by Joel Sayre in the United States sometime around the turn of the 19th century. Silver is an inherently precious material, so even a small object like this would have represented a considerable investment. Think about the labor involved in extracting the ore from the earth, refining it, and then hammering and shaping it into this elegant form. It is a relatively soft material, so it can be worked cold, but it would still have taken considerable skill to achieve this even, reflective surface. The length of the handle suggests a particular ritual of tea drinking, a refined gesture. Note the engraved decoration, likely indicating the original owner. This spoon speaks to the gentility of the Federal period in America, when a new nation was expressing its identity through carefully considered material culture. Considering the history embedded in its making, this little spoon embodies far more than just its function. It represents a complex web of labor, class, and aspiration.