This style of spoon was continued, with modifications, through the first third of the eighteenth century. Then the bowl became ovoid, or egg-shaped, and the end of the handle was rounded, without the notch.
The rat-tail was gradually replaced by what is known as the drop, or double drop, frequently terminating in a conventionalized flower or shell, or anthemion, while down the front of the handle ran a rib.
Later, the bowl became more pointed, the drop was replaced by a tongue, and the handle, after 1760, instead of slightly curving to the front at the end, reversed the position. Somewhat later, the handle became pointed, and was engraved with bright, cut ornaments and a cartouch at the end in which were engraved the initials of the owner.
During the first ten years of the nineteenth century a popular style was the so-called coffin-shaped handle, succeeded, probably about 1810, by a handle with a shoulder just above the junction with the bowl, while the end became fiddle-shaped or of a style now known as tipped, shapes produced to this day.
Until about 1770, spoons were of three sizes: the teaspoon, as small as an after-dinner coffee spoon; the porringer spoon, a little smaller than our present dessert size; and the tablespoon, with a handle somewhat shorter than that of today.
So few silver forks have been found in collections of old silver that it forces the belief that they were generally made of steel, with bone handles. There seems no reason why, if in general use, silver forks should not now be as common as spoons.
In the great silver exhibition recently held in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, of more than one thousand pieces, there were only two forks to be found.
Great skill was developed by the early silversmiths of England and America. The purity and gracefulness of design in many cases remain as standards for our best craftsmen today. It is, however, erroneous to suppose that all of the ornamentation was done by hand.
Ornaments on the back of spoon bowls and handles were impressed by dies forced together by drop presses or under screw pressure. This is absolutely proven by the exact duplication of the pattern on sets of spoons. Accurate measurements show that these ornaments were not handwork, for there is not the slightest deviation in dimensions.