Stock No. 3351	Pair George III sterling silver salt shovels
Elegant pair of George III sterling silver spade shaped salt shovels. London 1790 by George Smith III and William Fearn. The design of the stem is Old English with contemporary initials lightly engraved near the tip. The bowl is spatulate in shape with a slight ridge on either side from the stem to the widest part of the bowl. The very clear hallmarks are stamped on the reverse of the stem. Maker :- George Smith III & William Fearn

Condition :-Excellent condition with good, crisp hallmarks. Bottom right corner of makers' mark on one slightly rubbed
Hallmarked :- London 1790
Size :- 3.95 inches (10 cm) long
Weight :- 0.55 ozt (16.4 g)
It would seem that salt shovels are the earliest style of salt spoons still existing. Although there is a pair of unmarked shovels dating from about 1730 in the Ashmoleum Museum in Oxford, most dateable shovels can only be found after 1750. In the late medieval period, salt was taken from the salt cellar with a clean knife or with the fingers. By 1643, a salt spoon was mentioned in a will but its shape is unknown. George Smith III was apprenticed to Thomas Chawner, a renowned spoonmaker. The partnership of George Smith and William Fearn was very prolific and a very high percentage of the flatware made between 1775 and 1790 which survives to-day is stamped with the maker's mark of this partnership or of George Smith alone.

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