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Early Masonic
Wooster Sterling Spoon
This is an outstanding and very rare
sterling silver souvenir spoon of historic significance. It is shown and described in the
1891 booklet "Souvenir Spoons of America" on pages 54 and 56. The
handle of this spoon shows a perfect likeness bust of General Wooster sitting atop the
monument made in his honor after his death. The monument shows Wooster falling from his
horse after being shot, ironically immediately after rallying his soldiers with the words
"Come on, my boys; never mind such random shots." At the base of
the handle is an eagle. The bowl of the spoon has a beautiful raised design of
the house in which General Wooster died (in Danbury Connecticut) after being wounded in
1777. According to the book, the image of the house is a perfect likeness,
being patterned after a photograph which was taken the day before the house was torn down.
The back of the spoon shows the back of Wooster's bust, as well as the back of the
monument. Halfway down the back is a Masonic square and compass, as Wooster was
instrumental in introducing the Masonic Order into his home county, as Hiram Lodge #1 of
New Haven. The back is also marked STERLING, and PAT. APL'D FOR / F.L. WILSON. The spoon
measures 5 1/4 inches long.
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