Mother of Pearl Spoons

Hi, this is yet another antique fishing lure that I cant tell you much about!





Basically, back in the 1930s, Hardy's had the idea of selling lures made out of Mother of Pearl. No idea why, apart from the fact they look nice and shiny.

By the way, Mother of Pearl comes from an organic/inorganic composite material produced by some mollusc's. It is strong,resilient and iridescent. Pearls are made of it, as are the insides of various shells. It is also called Nacre.

This particular lure I listed on eBay as a Hardy's lure. It doesn't have the Hardy's name printed upon it, this is another of those rarities that they appeared unable to emblazon with their brand name. So how did I come to the conclusion that it was made by Hardy's?

Well I looked in the catalogue!
The spoon itself is fairly non descriptive,a concave piece of Mother of Pearl,nice and smooth and shiny. This particular spoon is 3 inches long. The fittings are more of an identifier. The swivel is typical Hardy's shape. You can see in the picture that one end of the swivel is a bit of a diamond shape, as opposed to round. Also the wound, wire hook trace, matched the trace portrayed within the Hardy's 1937 catalogue. The treble hook was originally surrounded by a tassel. Well most of this had worn away on my hook, but there were some remains suggesting that the tassel was originally present. All of these clues, plus the fact I bought the lure alongside some other Hardy lures, was sufficient for me to list it as a vintage Hardy's Mother of Pearl spoon. Elementary my dear Watson.


I haven't got a great deal more info about these lures. Hardy's sold their range between 1928 and the 'end of' the 1930s,at least until 1937. They had a few different sizes in the range,1, 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 2, 2 1/2 and 3 inches. The prices in 1937 ranged between 1 shilling and sixpence for the smallest, up to 3 and sixpence for the lure pictured above.

A collectors list price of £80 to £100 was suggested by a reference for this lure. However, my eBay selling price of about £30 was probably a fair price, given the condition of the spoon which had one small crack and a few light marks on it.


I have owned a few more of these spoons,all smaller than the above. Come to think of it a reason Mother of Pearl may have been used is that it is fairly robust, but also light for its size. Sometimes, you see these with a drilled hole for fittings at either end of the spoon. Sometimes, you can get the rig attached to the spoon by a little, metal plate being stuck onto one end of the spoon.

I am sure other manufacturers would have made, and sold, Mother of Pearl spoons,the trouble is identifying them. I doubt that many were successful in marking such a material with their logo.


OK,that concludes my knowledge of antique, or if you prefer vintage, Mother of Pearl spoon fishing lures. Can you add anything to this blog?


Until next time,thanks for reading.