Pewter Spoon History
Pewter is a metal alloy containing tin, copper, antimony, bismuth and, in some cases, lead. This metal was widely used throughout European and Colonial American history; it was the material of choice for dinnerware and eating utensils.
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Early History
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Spoons were commonly made of wood, horn, silver or gold until the early 14th century, when the development of pewter made spoons affordable to the general public. These were often decorated; one 15th-century spoon still in existence shows a woman wearing an ornate head dress.
Colonial America
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Hundreds of tons of pewter products were shipped to America during the Colonial period. Spoons during this era were made in molds and were created in a number of different shapes and styles. Earlier spoons had rounded bowls and flat, straight handles, while the bowls in later spoons were elongated. Later spoons featured ornate handles.
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Safety
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Pewter was created using a mixture of tin and lead for much of its history, and lead poisoning was common among the Colonial upper classes. Symptoms such as abdominal pain, or "dry gripes," are mentioned throughout historical writings. According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, lead was replaced with antimony around the Revolutionary period. Pewter tableware was still fashionable until around 1825, when people began favoring silver and china.
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