Superb old silver coral spoon, marked Silver; Teardrop-shaped lobed spoon, on the base and reverse a finely chased relief grapevines. The red coral branch is nicely contrasting the silver Please search the same looking coral spoon auctioned at Lempertz, recently auctioned in Germany, see last pic Also this similar looking coral-handled spoon was purchased around 1579 by the Elector Augustus of Saxony, who had one of the largest-known collections of coral-handled cutlery. Its use in sixteenth-century cutlery shows not only the fashion for combining beautiful, natural materials with the goldsmith's skill to make a functional, domestic object, but also during the Renaissance, coral was valued not only for its beauty and multiform appearance - it was also attributed a number of protective powers, including the ability to ward off poison and black magic. Thus, coral branches combined with gold and silver also enjoyed great popularity at the European courts in the 16th century; one of the most extensive collections of coral cutlery was assembled by Elector August of Saxony, who placed several orders with Genoese merchants around 1580. length 11,5 cm weight 15 grams good condition, the coral is glued on 1 spot, barely seeable Provenance European private collection. Literature Cf. a knife in the Klingenmuseum, Solingen, illustrated in Gertrud Benker, Alte Bestecke, Munich 1978, no. 82. A coral cutlery in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, illustrated in Jutta Kappel/Ulrike Weinhold, Das Neue Grüne Gewölbe, Dresden 2007, no. 52. Cf. also a coral cutlery in the collection of the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen, illustrated in Jochen Amme, Historische Bestecke, Aachen 2011, no. 31, and cat. Georg Laue, Precious Cutlery for the Kunstkammern Europas, Munich 2010, p. 72. On the master, cf. a gilded wedding cup in the parish church at Rengersbrunn, mentioned by Helmut Seling (767 a). The Polish National Museum in Warsaw preserves a Renaissance Schweiglin goblet made around 1535- 1540; the wall with inlaid ancient coins (inv. no. SZM 3268).