Greek .800 Silver Spoon, Ioannina, Marked ΚΩΝ-ΟΣ

A substantial hand-crafted Greek silver soup spoon from Ioannina, the celebrated silversmithing center of Epirus, made circa 1880–1920 in the late Ottoman or early modern Greek era. This is not a common export piece but a heavy, hand-worked domestic or dowry object of the sort produced for local households of means in northwestern Greece.

The metal is .800 fine silver, the continental standard widely used in Ottoman, Greek, and Balkan production. The handle carries bold engraved neoclassical scroll motifs and tapers into a plain bowl of smooth curves; the decoration is entirely hand-chased rather than cast.

Marks include ΚΩΝ-ΟΣ, an abbreviation of Κωνσταντίνος (Konstantinos), either the principal silversmith or the registered workshop; ΙΩΑΝΝΙΝΑ, the city of production; and 800 for purity. The back of the handle bears the letters AΦ, possibly initials or part of a personalized inscription. This form of hallmarking is consistent with post-Ottoman Ioannina practice, particularly among family-run ateliers active before modern Greek state hallmark regulations arrived in the 1930s.

Ioannina's silversmiths developed a regional style blending Byzantine and neoclassical Greek influence. Spoons of this weight were often commissioned as part of bridal dowries or used in formal Orthodox households.