Silver cutlery hasn’t always resembled the knife, fork and spoon that we take for granted today. Instead, it has made a fascinating journey of development from rudimentary tools made from flint to the designer silver cutlery that graces the nation’s dinner tables. These are just some of the historical highlights of silver and stainless steel cutlery:
Silver Cutlery – The First Knives
The sleek, designer knives of modern silver cutlery collections have come a long way since their first incarnations. Rudimentary cutting edges made of flint date back many thousands of years, and the first real blades were fashioned out of stone in the Palaeolithic period (500,000 – 10,000 B.C.). By 5000 B.C. man had created crude wood or animal skin handles for his blades to provide protection for his hands as he hunted and carved with his knife. He also polished the blade to provide a smoother and more effective edge. The first knives to resemble today’s silver cutlery were forged from copper and then bronze between 3000 – 700 B.C., with shapes that are still echoed in modern carving knives. Iron then became the material of choice for knives, with the Romans developing different styles for a variety of uses, from making ritual sacrifices to cutting hair. Unlike today’s cutlery, which is laid out on the table before a meal, people in the 14th Century considered their knives to be treasured possessions and would carry them everywhere they went. Some people even chose to be buried with their eating knives.
Silver Cutlery – Birth of the Fork
We talk about ‘knives and forks’ and not ‘forks and knives’ because the knife boasts a much longer history. But no modern set of silver cutlery or stainless steel cutlery would be complete without the pronged eating instrument that makes picking up tricky items like peas much easier (and safer) than using a knife, and more hygienic than using fingers. It wasn’t until the 16th Century that the fork came into fashion, first used by the Italians who decided picking up their food without cutlery was unseemly. It took another fifty years before Britain followed suit. Forks are believed to have developed from a small knife used to steady a joint of meat whilst carving. The single-point blade became a single-point prong, then a two-pronged fork like today’s carving forks. These rudimentary forks developed three then four prongs, and reduced in size to allow diners to steady and slice their food on the plate. Cutlery sets now boast beautiful forks in a range of stylish designs to complement the knife.
Silver Cutlery – Early Spoons
The first spoons were naturally a very crude design, made from bone or animal horn, or even a shell tied to a stick. Even when knives were being made from metal, the spoon continued to be fashioned from these materials, mainly because iron was poorly-suited to be forged into a scoop. Only when the Romans came to Britain did spoons begin to resemble modern cutlery, with pewter, bronze and silver used as the material. The Vikings and Saxons took their spoon designs one step further, with a leaf-shaped bowl and decorative ends fashioned into acorns. When the Puritans ruled, they simplified the spoon into an oval scoop with a flat end, reminiscent of the dessert spoons found in modern silver cutlery sets.
Speak To Glazebrook & Co About Your Cutlery Needs
Glazebrook & Co specialises in offering quintessentially British silver and stainless steel cutlery of the very highest quality. For the ultimate wedding gift, Glazebrook has a range of cutlery, silver cutlery and stainless steel cutlery. Glazebrook takes pride in not only supplying the finest products, but in serving the needs of a broad client base; from the individual private buyer to the most prestigious of corporate and trade customers worldwide. The comprehensive range caters to a variety of tastes: from time-honoured, traditional English styles in solid sterling silver and silver plate, to more contemporary matt and mirror finish designs in ever practical stainless steel.
Whatever your choice, our focus is always on quality and style, and our commitment remains to offer superlative craftsmanship at exceptional value. To find out more, telephone: +44 (0) 20 7731 7135 or E-mail: sales@glazebrook.com.
