It's Souvenir Spoon Sunday! ~ Florida Alligators

Woohoo!!!  Okay, maybe it's not all that exciting.....but since I have a few hundred of the darn things floating around the house, have decided that Sunday posts will be devoted to souvenir spoons.  For me, they hold interest not only in their often beautifully done designs, but also in the history of their subjects.

I travelled around a lot as a kid, moving to the Orlando area a month before Disney World opened in 1971, it's the closest thing to a hometown I have.  When we moved here it was a small town, we could ride our horses down roads that are now busy highways, spring would bring the overwhelming scent of orange blossoms from vast acres of groves, wildlife was abundant and the pace was fairly slow and easy - very different now.  The tourist industry has been big business in Florida since the late 19th century, due in large part to Henry Flagler bringing railways to the state and promoting his luxury hotels, the boom was in full bloom by the 1890s, just in time for the souvenir spoon craze.  The local alligators were a popular subject, the first spoon below, with its detailed (front & back)  figural handle, was made by Paye & Baker in early 1900s, the one with the alligator chomping down on the gilt orange leaf bowl was made by Alvin in the 1890s, and the perky little 'gator was made by Dominick & Haff for Jacksonville-based jeweler Greenleaf & Crosby, who held the patent rights to the design (1892 Patent D21560).

Jacksonville was probably the busiest tourist destination in the early days, and the alligator was a particularly popular souvenir of the city.  In addition to being able to take live babies home (poor things!), they were stuffed, or dissected to sell their body parts separately in various forms.  Less cruel options like the sterling spoons above, jewelry, decorated china, photographs, etc., and the work of anonymous carvers, who decorated, among other things, canes, pipes, corkscrews, letter openers, and spoons like the ladle below, with mother of pearl bowl and orange wood handle.

There are a couple of short articles that appeared in Antiques & Art Around Florida magazine, Florida Alligator Carvings, and Florida Souvenirs 1890 to 1930.