The table knives found at Jamestown vary in length from 6-3/8 to 8-1/4
inches. Most of them have either bone or ivory handles, although 3 have
embossed brass handles; and 1, found in a late 17th-century well, has an
exquisite handle of banded agate.
The forks in the collection also have bone or ivory handles, the
majority displaying 2 steel prongs, or tines. The number of prongs,
however, is no positive identification of any particular period, as many
English forks of the mid-17th century had 3 prongs, and a few had 4
prongs.
Types of spoons excavated include seal-heads, slipped ends, "puritans,"
and trifids. The majority were made of either pewter or latten metal (a
brasslike alloy), although 3 in the collection were made of silver. The
earliest spoons found have rounded bowls and 6-sided stems (handles),
whereas those made after 1650 usually have oval bowls and flat, 4-sided
handles. One of the silver spoons, with rounded bowl and slipped end,
bears the initials of its owner, "WC/E," on the slipped end of the
handle. This spoon appears to have been made between 1600 and 1625, and
is still in excellent condition.
The most important spoon in the Jamestown collection, and one of the
most significant objects excavated, is an incomplete pewter spoon--a
variant of the trifid, or split-end, type common during the 1650-90
period. Impressed on the handle (in the trefoil finial of the stem) is
the mark of the maker, giving his name, the Virginia town where he
worked, and the year he started business. This is the sole surviving
"touch" or mark of an American pewterer of the 17th century. The
complete legend, encircling a heart, reads: "IOSEPH
COPELAND/1675/CHUCKATUCK." (Chuckatuck is a small Virginia village in
Nansemond County, about 30 miles southeast of Jamestown.) Joseph
Copeland later moved to Jamestown where he was caretaker of the
statehouse from 1688-91. He may have made pewter in Virginia's first
capital. His matchless spoon found in the old Jamestown soil is the
oldest dated piece of American-made pewter in existence.