Table Spoon 1722 - 1725

This is a silver tablespoon made by Henry Pratt, a silversmith active in colonial Boston in the first half of the 18th century. Examining this object, we can ask: what does a simple spoon tell us about the society that produced it? Consider the material, silver: in this time and place, it signified wealth and status. Owning silver objects, like this spoon, was a signifier of belonging to the upper class. The spoon’s design reflects the influence of European styles on colonial American craftsmanship, revealing the complex cultural exchanges of the Atlantic world. Pratt, like other artisans, would have navigated Boston's social hierarchy through his craft, relying on patronage and the market for luxury goods. Objects like this spoon are invaluable resources for historians. Probate inventories and merchants’ records are just some of the archives we can explore to understand the networks of production, consumption, and social meaning that this tablespoon embodies.