Ebony Handled Salt Spoon

An ebony handle joined to a silver bowl makes this salt spoon, a pairing of dark wood and bright metal that runs straight through Spratling's tableware. It is placed in the Third Design Period of 1951 to 1967, the years of his later workshop production.

The wood-and-silver combination was by this point a settled part of the line, the small spoon reading as one member of a coordinated service. Ebony was the preferred dark partner in these later pieces.

Produced for more than a decade and recorded at a 1967 wholesale price of $1.20, the design has been reissued. Original-period examples are the collectible interest, surfacing with some regularity given the long production run.