Silver Spoon Collections

Collecting souvenir spoons became a popular hobby for Americans in the late 1800s when this European fad swept the nation. Wealthy Americans visiting Europe brought home these mementos marked with the names of foreign cities and famous landmarks they had visited. The first souvenir spoon produced in the United States, in Washington, D.C., featured a profile of George Washington and was created to mark the centennial of his presidency. It was shortly followed by the Martha Washington spoon.

The Omaha Daily Bee on May 10, 1891, noted: “The season of summer traveling, so near at hand, will give a new impetus to the spoon fad. So great has been the demand the past season for souvenir spoons that all the larger cities of the United States, as well as every city and town in Europe, with but few exceptions, manufacture a spoon characteristic of the place or of some object of peculiar interest to the people of that place.

“While in many places the spoons are found in tea sizes only, a number of the more extensive shops furnish them in orange, sugar, coffee and tea sizes. The souvenir spoon of the District of Columbia comprises several designs. The George Washington has a medallion of the father of the country stamped in the bowl or on the top of the handle, the remainder of the spoon being perfectly plain. The Martha Washington is identical. The likenesses in both cases are said to be exact, and it is the favorite spoon with nearly all collectors.”