When you think of heirlooms, spoons might not be the first thing to come to mind. However, a pair of spoons has been handed down on the maternal side of my family. They were a wedding gift to my 2x great-grandparents, David Ritchie and Margaret Reid, who were married in Scotland on New Year’s Day 1903.

I did once hear it said the giving of spoons at a wedding was symbolic of wishing that the couple never go hungry, and they were usually inscribed with the couple’s initials and the date. I don’t know if this is true, but it seems in keeping with other traditions.

These heirloom spoons don’t seem to have any initials or a date, but they do have an intricate pattern. They’ve also been well used and look rather battered now.

If I had the chance to visit an Antiques Roadshow, I’d ask them about these spoons. I think they were known as fruit spoons – for serving fruit – and I’d like to know more about them, but I’ve found it difficult to interpret the worn hallmark.

Can you make out the hallmark on the spoons? Do you have any similar family heirlooms?

Update: With thanks to a cousin who reads this blog, I now know what the marks say. They read EPNS, which stands for Electro Plated Nickel Silver. The Silver Society website explains that the letters EPNS were often used to make items look like genuine silver when they weren’t at all. Reading about this, and reviewing the marks on the spoons, it’s now clear what they are. Although not silver, in the Victorian era the spoons would have been quite an expensive and treasured gift, and now they’re a wonderful family heirloom.