Favorite Thing...

...MonoMonday's theme for today, and thanks to Trisharooni for hosting this month!  Collecting souvenir spoons is one of my favorite things to do. My grandmother collected them for years from places she traveled to, and as her children grew up and traveled the world they would bring one home for her from each place they went. They always fascinated me, and I can remember being around 6 or 7, and standing on a chair so I could see them better as they hung on the wall. My grandma told me that they would be mine when she died, and they did come to me. When I graduated from nursing school and got an actual job, (read: an income) I began collecting antique souvenir spoons. The earliest spoons I have date from the late 1800's. The two I've blipped were made a little later--around 1911. The spoons are identical except for the size, and the detail on them is amazing. In the bowl is a front view of Mount Vernon, and where the handle meets the bowl are the busts of George and Martha Washington. Down the handle reads "Mount Vernon", at the top is a side view of Mount Vernon, and above that, the Washington Coat of Arms. On the reverse top is Washington's tomb, and inside the circle where the handle meets the bowl is the American flag. The spoon design was patented by F. A. Whelan, a man who was a gardener at Mount Vernon from the late 1800's until the 1920's, and who ran a business on the side---selling his souvenir spoons of Mount Vernon. I apologize for the tarnish on the spoons! I'm out of polish and I'm not risking life and limb to enter a store to buy some right now! LOL.  Stay safe and healthy!!