Souvenir Spoons

When I think of souvenir spoons I think of the state spoons I collected in my pre-teen years. I purchased my first souvenir spoon while traveling to see my grandmother who lived in Oregon. That first state spoon became a small collection when our neighbor lady brought me back a couple from her vacation to Michigan. I think I was 14 when I got to go on vacation with my friend and her family to Colorado and I picked up a spoon in every state along the way. These state spoons were inexpensive and they were a nice reminder of the places I had been.

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To be honest, I don’t know whatever happened to my spoon collection. I lost interest in it and it seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. More than likely they were given to a local thrift shop or put in a yard sale years ago.

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Pictured above is a collection of state souvenir spoons a friend of my has in her flea market booth. While these old state spoons barely bring a few dollars a piece there is a whole other world of souvenir spoons. Vintage state, city and county spoons that are sterling silver are valuable. Sterling silver souvenir spoons in almost any design is valuable to serious souvenir spoon collectors.

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There are two influential styles for antique spoons. The Art Nuevo style is a very decorated spoon, a combination of nature and fantasy, very elaborate to say the least. Many of these Art Nuevo style spoons were created from the 1890’s through 1910. Demitasse coffee spoons were popular, they usually came in sets of 6 and were in the Art Nuevo style.

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The Art Deco style spoons were made from the 1890’s to the 1930’s. Many of the artists that created spoons had a vision for the final product. This arts and crafts style is very similar to the art deco style but you will probably find hammer marks on the bowls of these spoons. Artists saw this as an offering of proof that the spoon was hand hammered. Unfortunately as time went on, there were copycats that made that hand hammered look with a machine and it is almost impossible to tell the difference.

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If your spoon is marked silver, sterling or sterling silver or if you can find a mark, name, company, year, anything that can help you identify the maker you will have a better chance of selling it to a collector.

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Over the years a huge variety of spoons have been made to commemorate every thing. Community buildings, theatres, opera houses, bridges, fountains, European royalty, regional cultures, countries, world fairs, battleships, wars, military, snakes, agriculture, fruits, berries, birds and animals are just a few souvenir spoons that were made. The list just goes on and on.

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It is really hard to set a value on these old souvenir spoons because the buyer will usually pay whatever they can to add one they want or need to their collection, the problem is you can only guess what the dollar amount is. To do more research on souvenir spoons there are many good souvenir spoon identification and value books. There are also websites and clubs for souvenir spoon collectors. Then there is my personal favorite, check on eBay. I do a lot of my research for pricing on Ebay it has a more realistic view of what these spoons actually sell for.