THE TICKTUM COLLECTION

As pointed out in other sections this represents the main initial phase of our collecting interest and very few examples have been added in recent years as will be apparent from the reference numbers.

In all there are 39 examples not including multiples, the later Scarlett items or the Batemans, who are covered separately which is roughly the same as for Chapter III. As a reference Collection the later periods were not of any interest, and only one item post dates George III, a quite exceptional Fiddle Baster of 1840 by B Smith III in mint condition, which I couldn’t let go with the others.

By that I mean that at one stage this section ran on well in to the 19th century, but we found that they were only further examples of styles we already had, or examples of the myriad of different patterns introduced by the Chawner organisation. We finally thinned out back to only the 18th century.

The exceptions were the Baster already referred to, a pair of Paul Storr tablespoons, the only example of two women marking together and a quite exceptional Threaded Edge by R Crossley. One or two examples of 18th century styles or makers might appear and be worthy of inclusion, but in general terms this part of the Collection is pretty much complete.

Throughout the items in this Chapter reference is made to them being transitional. The noticeable thing about 18th century Spoons is that there was no violent change of style as there had been between Trefid-Wavy Ends and Hanoverians.

The change to Old English and Fiddle Pattern was a slow process throughout the century, consequently many spoons had features from the Hanoverain style even when Old English, and vice versa.

Whether one can describe a transition as a style in itself I leave for others to judge. Our interest in the development of the spoon in this period has lead us to try and describe the features of each example and consequently to clarify it as transitional when those features strongly represent more than one style in a single item