The Romance of antique Welsh Love Spoons

There is so much more than first meets the eye with antique Welsh love spoons given by an admirer to a lady as an expression of his feelings for her which he could not perhaps put into words. The spoons were carved from one piece of wood and during the long evenings, with no electronics, they would carve a spoon often with just a pen knife, some of them must have taken ages it must have been true love....... !

Some of the symbols often found on spoons are hearts meaning 'my heart is yours', comma shapes representing the soul, meaning deep great affection, wheels meaning good fortune and key holes meaning the key to the heart. Occasionally old pieces of mirror were incorporated into the spoon handle, reflecting hearts desire. Some of the antique Welsh love spoons have cages carved out and inside the cage some wooden balls all carved from the one piece of wood, the number of balls representing how many children he would like. Rarely you can find more than one spoon bowl, a double antique Welsh love spoon as illustrated below, it represents a couple together forever. Translating the symbols gives the message and feelings from the maker. If the lady accepted the Welsh love spoon then the couple started dating and if they went on to get married the spoon would become an heirloom. I guess a really popular lady may have several spoons made for her!!!! Now these antique Welsh love spoons are highly collectible if you are lucky enough to find them, many fetching well over a thousand pounds!! But what a wonderful piece of antique treen steeped in history and romance of bygone www.opusantiques.co.uk/antique-treen-welsh-love-spoon.html-1 www.opusantiques.co.uk/antique-treen-welsh-love-spoon.html-0