Suffolk detectorist finds rare 15th century spoon

Detectorist Aaron Pizzey unearthed a rare 15th century solid silver diamond point spoon.

Aaron, now 26, has been detecting around Suffolk since he was 14. He describes the find “I saw the edge of the bowl sticking out from the soil, I reached down and pulled the spoon from the ground which was in remarkable condition with only two small dents in the bowl and some tarnishing considering it may have been in the ground for over 500 years. At first, I didn’t know what to make of it, I assumed it was Victorian but it looked to be solid silver so I started taking pictures of it and I posted it on a metal detecting forum on Facebook.”

The spoon was reported as Treasure and disclaimed. It was taken to a specialist auction house in London by the landowner who valued it at £12,000 to £18,000. Aaron said “the land owner has decided to keep it for an agreed amount as It would be a shame for it to separated from the location due to the vast amount of history of the site“. He mentioned that the land owner had some dents removed and had the spoon placed in a solution to remove the tarnish. 

Aaron said that the money he has received will go towards his house renovation and will allow him to upgrade his metal detector. 

The spoon is magnificent. However, for it to be worth that price it must have been made in a place of great rarity. Lots of relatively small places produced silverware during the medieval period and some are known from very few pieces. The shape of this one also marks it out as a rarity. I’d have loved to dig it up! It’s also another great example of how detectorists and land owners working well together.