Etiquette spoon?

[moparthug]

Another odd yard sale find, and to make things worse I found it in an old tackle box full of vintage lures. It has nothing to do with fishing (I think). The next guess was a 19th century etiquette spoon, because why else would you have serrations on the SIDE of a spoon? Grapefruit spoons have serrations just on the front so you can actually eat the fruit without cutting your mouth. With some light cleaning I found the makers name of W.H.Horn & Son. A Google search says this spoon was made by Williamson Hartley Horn (1799-1870), and he owned W.H.Horn & Son, a painting store in Nashville around 1845-1860's. OK, perhaps an odd painters pallet tool? I know exactly zero about mid 1800's oil painting so that's just a guess as well.

I kind of like the idea of a prim and proper lady of the home teaching her rambunctious children how to eat like adults, spoon raised up to level with mouth, carefully eat, repeat. The lazy kids would get a nasty poke in the side of their mouth. But, you would expect if such a thing as that existed it would be silver or silver plate, this is a simple iron spoon with two rivets holding the handle on. I think it's a tool of some kind and not an eating devise.

[john k]

First thing to mind is,  a painters tool, for streaking artificial wood graining,  as used on furniture and plaster moldings,  Certainly never seen anything like it,

[MAD]

Could be a fish scaler.

[Bill Houghton]

Flat, yes, no bowl shape?  Similar but not identical to the tool Red Devil made for cutting through paint on the edges of window sash, for windows that had been painted shut.

[Uncle Buck]

Like John, I think it has something to do with painting myself.

[lptools]

I've used a similar looking tool for cutting into the glazing where it meets the glass. The blade would lay flat on the glass, and a lot of elbow grease would be applied. Regards, Lou

[Northwoods]

Could be a fish scaler.

You've got my vote.

[moparthug]

It's not flat, it's a spoon. I can't find any info about this painting supply store selling fishing gear, but who knows, they may have seen a need in the local community and made a run of fish scalers.

[lptools]

Now it looks like a fish scaler!!!! The first 2 photos made it look flat. Regards, Lou

[MAD]

I wouldn't get too focused on the paint store in Nashville as the maker. I think it is more likely to have come from the W.H. Horn & Bro. company in Philadelphia.http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID:SILNMAHTL_19890 I looks like they started out making an extensive line of leather related tools and eventually shifting to medical appliances. I don't know if they made fish scalers, but it is not that far flung from tools for scraping terrestrial animal hides. Or perhaps your serrated spoon is actually a fleshing tool or some other leather related use. I couldn't find any info to support that line of thought though.

[moparthug]

I wouldn't get too focused on the paint store in Nashville as the maker. I think it is more likely to have come from the W.H. Horn & Bro. company in Philadelphia.http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID:SILNMAHTL_19890 I looks like they started out making an extensive line of leather related tools and eventually shifting to medical appliances. I don't know if they made fish scalers, but it is not that far flung from tools for scraping terrestrial animal hides. Or perhaps your serrated spoon is actually a fleshing tool or some other leather related use. I couldn't find any info to support that line of thought though.

Outstanding, another avenue to explore! Thanks for this info, every little bit helps.

[MAD]

I wouldn't get too focused on the paint store in Nashville as the maker. I think it is more likely to have come from the W.H. Horn & Bro. company in Philadelphia.http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID:SILNMAHTL_19890 I looks like they started out making an extensive line of leather related tools and eventually shifting to medical appliances. I don't know if they made fish scalers, but it is not that far flung from tools for scraping terrestrial animal hides. Or perhaps your serrated spoon is actually a fleshing tool or some other leather related use. I couldn't find any info to support that line of thought though.

Outstanding, another avenue to explore! Thanks for this info, every little bit helps.

Glad to help- Keep us up to date if you discover anything about your interesting back-scratcher.

[Sudsy]

Everyone is over thinking this

It's a grapefruit spoon used to remove the sections after a knife is used to separate the membranes

That is a very old one though

[Uncle Buck]

Everyone is over thinking this

It's a grapefruit spoon used to remove the sections after a knife is used to separate the membranes

That is a very old one though

I see that now, yes indeed, you nailed that one!

[DeadNutz]

I don't think a grapefruit spoon would be plain steel. Most of the ones I have used are kind of a wedge shape with the serrations only half way up the spoon part with the remainder smooth. That tool shown could cause major damage to your mouth with those serrations. I think it is a scraping tool of some kind.