Spoon holder

Cups similar to this were used to store the numerous silver spoons likely to be owned by well-to-do households at midcentury. Placed on a sideboard or table, spoonholders held a small cache of flatware for ready use.

The motif of acorns and oak leaves that decorates this goblet appeared on numerous wares marked by Vincent Laforme. Similar decoration rings a large salver engraved with an inscription of 1857 as well as two teapots and the creamer and sugar bowl of a five-piece tea set made after 1854.1 The spoonholder was sold by Lincoln & Foss, a Boston retailer (see cat. no. 224).

This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.