spoon
- Museum number
- 1850,0601.13
- Description
-
Silver spoon with pear-shaped bowl, plain, solid offset, and a round-sectioned handle with a single baluster moulding. The bowl has a surrounding moulding, and is cracked, with one small triangular fragment lost at the front edge. The handle appears to be original, but the tip, which was probably a fine point, has been broken off and filed to a blunt end. There is a break in the handle, of unknown date. Some other marks of filing on offset and handle, as well as the alteration to the tip of the handle, may all be ancient, as they are overlaid by the smoothing and polishing which are the result of wear.
- Production date
- 1stC-2ndC
- Dimensions
-
Length: 124 millimetres (Total length in present condition)
-
Length: 34 millimetres (bowl)
-
Weight: 10.44 grammes (note loss of handle-tip)
-
Width: 22.50 millimetres (bowl)
- Curator's comments
- The history of this hoard is obscure. We know that it was found around 1811, but not where it was found. The hoard was said to have included about 280 coins, but all but one of these, and probably other objects, were dispersed before The British Museum was able to acquire what was left of the treasure in 1850. The surviving coin is a denarius of Antoninus Pius (reigned AD 138-161) issued in AD 139.
The treasure was probably a votive deposit at a shrine of the Mother-goddesses near the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall.
The spoon is a typical form of the first or second centuries.
- Location
- On display (G49/dc11)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2013 23 May - 15 Sep, Wallsend, Segedunum Roman Fort, Spotlight: The Backworth Hoard
- Acquisition date
- 1850
- Acquisition notes
- Found in 1811 or 1812, exact findspot unknown.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1850,0601.13