Lot 83
A CHARLES II "FROST FAIR" SOUVENIR TREFID SPOON
with a worn, ribbed rattail bowl, inscribed on the front of the terminal "EL" and engraved on the reverse with a heart and two crossed arrows, the stem inscribed along the length "boughte att frost faire** kept upon y' London River of Theames y' 4th February by b....?", by an unascribed maker RS* 1683; 7" (18 cms) long; 1.1 oz
*For illustration of this mark, as seen on a trefid spoon circa 1680-81, see Jackson's Revised pp 128.
** J.H. BRAZELL, (1698), London Weather notes:-
"Eight frost fairs were held on the Thames between 1607 and 1814; the first recorded frost fair was in the winter of 1607/08. The frost commenced in mid December, and by 10 to 15 January the ice between Lambeth and Westminster was firm and thick enough to allow a large number of people to walk on it in perfect safety. Booths were set up for the sale of fruit, food, beer and wine and shoemakers and barbers plied their trade on the ice. Fires were kept going in many of the tents or booths and people enjoyed all sorts of sports on the ice, such as bowling, shooting and dancing. During the winter of 1638/84 the frost lasted from December to early February but the fair was confined to the second half of January. The ice was thick and firm and the number of shops, booths and people on the frozen river made it appear like another city. The booths, which sold all sorts of goods and merchandise and covered a variety of trades, were arranged in formal streets from the Temple to Southwark. A printing press was set up on the ice and the practice of having their names printed with the date and the phrase "printed on the Thames" secame so popular with the people that the printer made a small fortune.......
People indulged in practically every sport including dancing, skating, sledging, bull-bating, bear-bating, fox-hunting, football and skittles...King Charles II and his family visited the frost fair and had their names printed on a quarto sheet of Dufra paper by "G Groom on the ICE on the River Thames January 31st 1684".
*** Sold as lot 18 the Griffin Collection (part 1) of late 17th century spoons, 24th April 1997 Phillips, New Bond St.London - same cataloguer
