A rare late 15th/ early 16th century silver Slip-top spoon

A rare late 15th/ early 16th century silver Slip-top spoon,

stamped once in the bowl with a device of a quatrefoil motif, unascribed, circa 1500,

fig shaped bowl, the reverse with a rudimentary rat-tail, faceted tapering stem, the slip engraved with a Lombardic 'A' with traces of gilding, length 15.7cm, approx. weight 1.06oz.

Provenance: The David Constable Collection.

Bonhams, Fine Silver, New Bond Street, London, 3 November 2010, lot 46.

By repute, the spoon was dug up by a digger making foundations for a car park in Southern England.

Illustrated and written up in Constable, D., Silver Spoons of Britain 1200-1710, Constables Publishing, 2016, Volume 1, pages 142-143 , entry number 15 .