Silver rice spoon, Wed. A. Kuylenburg Pzn, Schoonhoven, 1883

Silver rice spoon with a beaded edge, made by the silversmith Wed. A. Kuylenburg Pzn, née Borst from Schoonhoven. This hallmark was used between 1882 and 1893.

Wilhelmina Borst (1832–1912), better known by her official trade name Widow A. Kuijlenburg, was one of the few respected female entrepreneurs in the 19th-century Dutch silver industry.

Her husband, Adrianus Kuijlenburg Pzn (born in 1824), was a skilled silversmith and engraver in the national silver city of Schoonhoven. After they married in 1852, they jointly ran a successful silver workshop.

Adrianus passed away in June 1882. At that time, it was legally and socially uncommon for women to start their own businesses, but a widow was allowed to continue her deceased husband's enterprise. Wilhelmina Borst decided to take up the hammer herself.

Under her leadership, the workshop flourished between 1882 and 1911 along the canals of Schoonhoven. Together with her sons, she produced high-quality Dutch small and large silver, ranging from richly engraved ginger couverts and heavy rice spoons to this type of stately table cutlery with a beaded edge.

A rice spoon has a wide, flat, and symmetrical bowl. The bowl is in line with the handle so that rice slides off smoothly.

The spoon is hallmarked with master's mark AK *47, second-grade mark, Minerva head, and year letter y for 1883.

The spoon is in excellent condition.

Weight: 41.8 grams. Length: 19 cm.