Spoon Types - Marrow Scoops

Can you tell me what this is and what it was used for?

Irish Marrow Scoop, John Shields, Dublin

It’s known as a marrow scoop. Back in eighteenth century (the earliest example dates from just before then in 1690), the marrow (which is the stuff inside bones) was considered a delicacy. So they made special spoons just to get at the stuff. Very popular in the 1700s, they became scarcer in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Quite large, often around 25cm long, some would have a spoon on one end and the scoop on the other, others, such as this example, had two different sized scoops.

Keep an eye out for them, especially rare Scottish and Irish examples.

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