Antique Sterling Salt Shovels George Washington Family Crest

This is a pair of solid sterling salt spoons in the form of shovels. They are marked sterling, are about 3 1/4 inches long, and together weigh over 14 grams. The handles are in the English Hanoverian pattern. The pattern was popular in England for decades in the mid-18th century, and you can find English made shovels like these that date to the 1750s. These pieces, which are just marked sterling, were likely made in America. Moreover, because this Hanoverian pattern had a resurgence in popularity in the 19th century, and there is no makers mark, it is difficult of estimate when these were made. Open salt cellars went out of fashion in the early 20th century when salt shakers became widespread after the introduction of anti-caking salt.

While it is common to find antique sterling flatware with monograms, it is rare to find pieces engraved with family crests, or coat of arms, especially on American flatware. What is especially remarkable about these spoons is that they are engraved with George Washington's family crest of a griffin emerging from a coronet or crown. (A family crest is the topmost piece of a family coat of arms.) In fact, despite their diminutive size, the engravings on these shovels match nearly precisely that of the family crest engraved on a George Washington circa 1780, Revolutionary War camp cup made by Philadelphia silversmith Richard Humphries. This silver cup can be viewed at the Yale University website: artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/47336. The 1780 engraved crest on the cup is embedded in an image below to help enable comparisons to the design on these salt shovels. Note that each spoon has a slightly different design in terms of the number and orientation of feathers and engraved lines. This suggests each engraving was handmade according to a general pattern, using very fine tools and a steady hand. The use of the cup, and the fact that Washington had his family crest engraved on most silver and flatware sets he ordered, the story of how the silver was passed on to Robert E. Lee, saved from destruction during the Civil War, and then passed on to various Custis-Lee descendants is described at the Washington Museum website: MountVernon.org and in other online articles.

These were bought at an estate auction in the early 1990s. While there are modern reproductions of Washington's camp cup (and they are clearly marked as such), reproductions of other Washington family crest-engraved flatware pieces is not reported online, nor is information readily available about which Martha Washington Custis' descendants, or who else, may have subsequently used this crest. MountVernon.org sells pins and glass ornaments with this design. In the English tradition, crests can be passed down through generations and changes in family names, so multiple family names may be associated with the same crest. There are at least a dozen variants of the griffin and corronet family crest found online, but none that match the Washington crest (e.g., these other crests may have outstretched wings or grasping talons). For example, William Eley, William Fearn and William Chawner of London made a flatware set in 1810 with a griffin crown crest, but the crest design differed greatly from the Washington cup. The origins of the Washington family crest and coat of arms to medieval times is detailed at MountVernon.org.

These shovel spoons were well used, with tarnish and a few tiny pits, and we did not clean them up. They can be polished brightly with silver polish if desired. They will be shipped insured and with signature verification. Despite their uncertain age and provenance, these sterling spoons clearly and correctly reproduce the George Washington family crest. They will be of interest to a George Washington collector, and merit further investigation.