The records of the London goldsmiths' Garrard for 1760 include customer orders for spoons and forks which are described as 'turn'd back'. This is almost certainly a reference to pieces like this, in which the finial turns back or down so that they can be laid on the table with the bowl or tines uppermost (as we would set them on the table today). Turned back finials are unlike the French patterns which English goldsmiths imitated during the second half of the eighteenth century, and consequently this distinctive style has come to be known as 'Old English'. This particular spoon, however, may originally have been made as a Hanoverian pattern, where the finial turns up rather than down. The popularity of the 'Old English' pattern at the end of the eighteenth century meant many families sent their tableware to goldsmiths to have it altered to suit the new fashion. The noticeably thin feel to the top of the stem and finial suggests this spoon was among those that were adapted.