Silver spoon

Silver dessert spoon, Sheffield, UK, about 1905

Metal spoons, including valuable silver spoons, were first made by hand, and were therefore expensive: to be born ‘with a silver spoon in your mouth’ meant you were rich! In the 1800s factories began making cheap metal cutlery – spoons, knives and forks.

Did you know?

While spoons and knives date from ancient times, forks were not commonly used in Britain until the 1500s.