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'. The three initials engraved on the finial are almost certainly those of a husband and his wife. The top initial is the man's family name; the two letters below are the initials of the first name of the husband and wife.
The marks punched on the back of this spoon stem include one to show that the goldsmith who submitted the spoon had paid duty on the wrought silver. Duty was first imposed on silver that had been fashioned or worked in the UK in June 1720. The tax was repealed in 1758 but was reinstated in 1784. The duty mark on this spoon, an incuse mark of the head of the reigning monarch, King George III, was only in use in London for the period between 1st December 1784 and May 1786. After this date, the representation of the monarch's head changed and the mark was stamped as a cameo. This change appears to have come about to minimise damage to the silver article that was being stamped. Provincial assay offices such as Edinburgh and Exeter used the incuse punch a little longer, until 31 December 1786.