Antique Cheese Serving Spoon

"You never see these — I found spoons like these one by one at brocantes, and they are very, very rare," Patricia exclaims, and her words say everything about this exceptional cheese spoon from her personal collection at Chanteduc, the farmhouse in Vaison-la-Romaine she and Walter have called home for decades. The spoon is silver, slender and purposeful, with a narrow, angled scoop designed serve soft cheeses. The handle is bordered along its full length by a fine beaded edge — a detail that demands real skill to execute — and the terminal is decorated with a small, precisely worked cartouche of scrolling acanthus. The silver has the warm, slightly muted tone that comes only with age and use. Patricia gathered these spoons individually at French brocantes, which makes each one a find in its own right. Lay one across a linen napkin beside a roasted bone, or display a small grouping in a silver cup or shallow dish — they are too beautiful and too rare to keep in a drawer.