FIDDLE SPOON

The "fiddle" pattern had its origins in France about 1675, but is not found in English silver until a century later. Its handle's shape resembles a fiddle (violin) with the stem like a finger-board and the body with smooth parallel sides extending towards a rounded terminal.
This pattern was also very common in American coin silver, was highly popular in the early part of the 19th century and generally replaced the Old English as the most popular pattern.
The fiddle pattern has many variants:
- fiddle thread, whith a border motif of one or two thin closely spaced lines along the entire lenght of both edges of the stem
- fiddle shell, with a relief shell at the terminal of the handle
- fiddle thread and shell, combining the preceding two forms