Figure 10. A wavy end or dognose tablespoon showing a family crest and initials.

From the Dark Ages onwards, very sketchy evidence of spoon design exists until the beginning of the 14th century when trends can begin to be established. It is true that the discovery of a handful of hoards from British archeological sites have shed some light in this direction, notably finds on lona, at Taunton and Pevensey, but these and other examples are really too few in number to be anything other than of academic interest.
Early medieval spoons, however, do demonstrate certain characteristics. They have a shallow bowl, generally either rounded or fig-shaped, and the stem is invariably six sided terminating in a finishing piece or knop usually of very simple design. These spoons vary in size but are often only 5 inches or so in length and weigh less than an ounce. Though more often than not unmarked, these spoons are highly prized when found in good condition.
It was at this period when something very interesting began to happen. From around 1300, the London Guild of Goldsmiths, now regulated by the Crown and Acts of Parliament, began 'hallmarking' (i.e striking a mark in the bowl of a spoon if it was up to standard; as this was done at the Goldsmiths' Hall, the term stuck). The first marks took the form of a leopard's head in a circular punch and these are now fairly well documented in various available reference works.* The design of the mark is thought to have been lifted from heraldry. The exciting but inadvertent result of this marking has great significance for collectors today: it is possible to date a spoon to a specific narrow period of 30-50 years in history. How wonderful and evocative it is to own something from the period when Richard II was patronising Geoffrey Chaucer.
These early spoons are beautifully made, very tactile and quite exquisite articles with either an acorn knop (figure 3) or a diamond point finial. A diamond point spoon, excavated from the mud of The Thames foreshore between London and Southwark Bridges and struck with the early leopard's head mark for 1300-1350, recently sold at auction for a hammer price of £30,000.
As the centuries progressed, acorn knops, diamond points and wrythen knops gave way to an increasing variety of finials - maidenheads, lion sejants (figure 4), animals, human figures such as Apostles, and seal tops. The real reasons for the design of these spoon terminals are not clear but one can draw direct parallels from art and architecture (particularly stone ornamentation on churches and cathedrals). Furthermore, medieval craftsman were directly in tune with nature, acutely aware of mythology and probably heavily influenced by religious symbolism. All these factors together with the wishes of the prospective owner and the silversmiths' limitations must have contributed to the eventual form of these finials. They were cast in tiny sand moulds and soldered on to the top of the stem using a 'V joint in the case of London-made examples (and a lap joint in all other parts of the country). The finials on all of the aforementioned spoons were gilded (covered in a layer of gold), probably for dcecorative purposes but also, as gold is inert, serving a practical purpose. It is now tthought that the finials of seal top spoons, whose period spanned the late 15th to the late 17th centuries, were for stirring drinks or crushing and helping to dissolve sugar in tall thin glasses to sweeten their contents.