The first of a set of five teaspoons bearing the manufacturer's trademark "BUBELA | SHEFFIELD STEEL". A teaspoon made of metal alloy, silver plated. The scoop is elliptical — it tapers more strongly towards the tip and more gently towards the handle. Flat handle, widening towards the bottom. The handle features a frugal art déco style geometric pattern. The decoration consists of two simple grooves (thinnings) running along both edges. The end of the handle is bevelled where it has been thinned.
Tea was known in Poland as early as early as the 18th century but was not as popular as coffee. Its period of popularity began at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching its apogee in the 1820s and 1830s. Those living in the Russian partitioned territories would brew it using the samovar, a practice that was never adopted in the other partitions. The teapot became fashionable in the mid-19th century as a vessel for brewing tea English style (which was very different from the Russian style; for more, see E. Wieruch-Jankowska, "Herbaty na warszawskim stole XIX wieku. Zwyczaje i akcesoria", Warsaw 2015, pp. 32-34). As noted by Joanna Paprocka-Gajek, a specialist in Polish plating, "tea" came to mean a relatively modest evening meal regardless of what was actually served at the table ("Platery warszawskie w latach 1822-1914", Warsaw 2010). Unlike lavish lunches or dinners, tea parties did not require much preparation, and the custom of drinking tea itself became the perfect entourage for social gatherings.
Tea drinking was inevitably accompanied by all sorts of paraphernalia (for more on this topic see E. Wieruch-Jankowska, "Herbaty na warszawskim stole XIX wieku. Zwyczaje i akcesoria", Warsaw 2015, pp. 32-33), including teaspoons. Teaspoons were sometimes hung on a rim around the sugar bowl, and special spoons for scraping off grounds were also made (they had an openwork scoop and a long and thin handle, which was probably used to unblock the teapot spout clogged by leaves (E. Wieruch-Jankowska, "Herbaty na warszawskim stole XIX wieku. Zwyczaje i akcesoria", Warsaw 2015, pp. 44).
Natalia Różańska
