Is that a fish on the fork, or am I seeing things? If I’m seeing things at 7am, that’s too early, even me – who sometimes has a birthday fall on Mardi Gras ha 🍻🍷🍸🍹🥂🍾

by Perky214

5 Comments

  1. Alarming-Vast-6804

    Looks like a fish! Happy birthday!!!

  2. Perky214

    (1) SQUEEEEE! It’s here! It arrived last night but I actually had some discipline and waited until my actual birthday to open it

    (2) The fork is from the Reverie-Art shop on Etsy. Very fast and affordable shipping from the UK. The fork was beautifully and very securely wrapped.

    (3) Oooooo this is like lingerie – peek a boo!

    (4) And there it is in all its glory! This Victorian-era fish fork is from the 1870s – 1880s, made in the city of Sheffield, which was a manufacturing town with many cutlery factories.

    (5-7) The handle is mother-of-pearl, which is one of the ways to tell that this fork was made for the Victorian middle-class, which could afford some luxury items. If this fork had been made for the upper class, the fork would be made of solid sterling silver.

    Another clue: the Mother of Pearl handle was vastly more affordable than solid silver.

    But the final proof of its design for the new middle class is the stamping EPNS – for electro-plated nickel silver.

    (8-9) So – is that a fish on the fork? It kinda looks like a fish or a flower to me (and no, all I’ve had to eat or drink this morning is a piece of toast and a Diet Coke – 🤣)

    Thank you to my sweet hubby who got me this lovely fork for my birthday, and will be taking me out later tonight for a nice meal. 💙