Robert Stebbings Silver Sifter Spoon 1892

Description

Heading : Silver sifter spoon
Date : Hallmarked London 1892. Robert Stebbings. Middleton Street
Period : Victorian
Origin : London. England
Bowl : Pierced shell form
Handle : Beaded border and a script ‘U’
Size : 5 1/4 inches long and 1 13/16 inches wide
Condition : Excellent. no dings
Restoration : None
Weight: 35 grams

These small spoons were used to take powdered sugar from a sucrier or sugar bowl and to be sprinkled over porridge. fruit and similar. They came into being prior to refined sugar being available in the 18th century. Sugar loaves . the ones from which the mountain takes it’s name.  would be powdered by kitchen skivvies. Unfortunately the loaf would contain sand. grit and other impurities and no matter how hard the hired help hammered away and beat the snips of sugar cut from the loaf it was very difficult to make the sugar uniform. It would need to be sifted.

Sifter spoons have shorter handles and broader flatter bases than mote spoons which were used to skim tea floating tea leaves from your cuppa and to put them into a slop bowl.

For the Victorian this was simply an elegant way to sprinkle refined sugar onto food. the reason for manufacture had become denuded as a result of Victoirian engineering and processing. Ideal for cornflakes. one thing the Victorians did not consider ! These