Spiffy Spooners

The spooner is an antique I learned about quite by accident. There was an estate sale that had advertised some glassware and china, and I came across an unusual glass piece with bleeding hearts on it. I was really fascinated with gardening that summer and was positively infatuated with bleeding hearts. In fact, I had some not-growing on my porch, along with a few other plants I was busy not-growing. (I said I was fascinated with gardening. I didn't say I was any good at it.) At any rate, the piece on the left is the bleeding heart spooner I bought that day, and the spooner at right is a reproduction piece I bought new.


After buying the bleeding heart spooner, I was eager to find out exactly what this was. The scalloped top made it unusable as a drinking glass, and it wasn't large enough to serve as a vase. Eventually I found one just like it at an antiques store online, and I learned this was called a spooner. Apparently, this was a circa 1860 or so piece that once held spoons on the table, a piece used at a time when the Victorian hostess didn't always have a spoon at every place setting. But since I'm OK on the spoon front, I use mine to hold teaspoons and other tea accoutrements.

The newer spooner holds my spoon-style tea infusers. And the rose doily they're sitting on, like the pink doily yesterday, is one I made a few years ago. I found a vintage pattern for the rose doilies and began cranking them out. Maybe I'll make one for a giveaway sometime!