Tiny Silver Spoon

Diabolik

Elite Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2020
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638
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
So today I thought I’d try something new and do a little riverfront hunting with the Vanquish. I found an older local park with a nice section of waterfront. Turns out their access to the waterfront is a little less than stellar with only one set of highly questionable concrete stairs. None of the gates were unlocked so I had to hop a 3 foot chain link fence to get down there. I spent the afternoon down by the water without seeing anyone but a few geese and the occasional looky loo watching me from above.

I found way more clad than I expected. Lots of crusty cents. Luckily most were not that deep. Anyways, as I was hunting along the base of the wall, I found this little spoon. I almost missed it and had a hard time picking it out from the twigs, leaves and other debris. I suspect this might have been some sort of souvenir from a local attraction, but I need to do a little research. Allegheny is the county we are located in and there has been several attractions using that name. I am not sure if it came twisted like that or somebody did that somewhere along the way, but it is very tiny and I am very happy I found it in one piece. Was certainly a cool find for me and made digging all the crusty zincolns totally worth it.
 

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Wow! That is a good find, a Sterling Souvenir spoon! They are indeed smaller than a usual spoon, and were popular in the late 1890's to about 1915 era. Yours looks old and probably dates ca 1905. Nice one!
 
Cool find, great history.
LovestheShiny got it.

A very old collectable...in the late 1800's souvenir spoon collecting became a big thing in this country, came over from Europe and swept the nation.
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/history-of-souvenir-spoons/

Since yours says Allegheny probably pre 1907.

Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed by the Ohio River, and is known today as the North Side. The city's waterfront district, along the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, became Pittsburgh's North Shore neighborhood.
 

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Cool find, great history.
LovestheShiny got it.

A very old collectable...in the late 1800's souvenir spoon collecting became a big thing in this country, came over from Europe and swept the nation.
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/history-of-souvenir-spoons/

Since yours says Allegheny probably pre 1907.

Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed by the Ohio River, and is known today as the North Side. The city's waterfront district, along the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, became Pittsburgh's North Shore neighborhood.

Thank you for the snippet and the link. Very interesting. I did not actually realize that there was a town here named Allegheny as this is now the name of our county.

As I am cleaning this clad (which is horrible) harder to clean than the stuff I dig out of the ground normally and definitely worse than beach clad! I realized that the solitary nickel I found today appears to be a war nickel.
 

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That is one very sweet find D. A huge attaboy for that save. Silver spoon is a bucketlister for many a Md'r and you bring in one with fancy on it. Congrats. First one of those I have ever seen. Good luck, Mark
 
That is one very sweet find D. A huge attaboy for that save. Silver spoon is a bucketlister for many a Md'r and you bring in one with fancy on it. Congrats. First one of those I have ever seen. Good luck, Mark

Thanks Mark, I knew what is was when I saw it, but I was kind of shocked. I guess you get used to digging lots of clad and trash. ;) I'll definitely go back there again. Trying to get as much time in before the weather turns. Going to be hard hanging up my gear for the winter. Hoping we have a mild one here.


That's a great looking spoon and nice war nickle too, Congrats!

Thanks Ron, I don't find many nickels normally so finding a war nickel made me really happy. I always wonder how long these coins have been sitting there waiting to be uncovered again.
 
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