New Teaspoon Advice Please
Discussion
RDMcG said:
Google spoon design is far inferior to the iSpoon...which analyses and reports on the condition of the tea in which it is stirred, the number of rotations, and whether the stirrer is using the optimal angle.
Agreed, its not a collector item as such, BUT it can be an outstanding training device for novice stirrers an has a WiFi capability that gives feedback to the stirrer.
Yet another one who favours form over function. Have you forgotten that the damned thing is only fully functional in that ludicrous iCup - and not just any iCup, but only in the very latest iCup 6 ?Agreed, its not a collector item as such, BUT it can be an outstanding training device for novice stirrers an has a WiFi capability that gives feedback to the stirrer.
If you must have automation, better to go with the hAndroid option - at least it can be retrofitted to most auto-stirrers based on the Arm series.
As for the unpleasantness in the north (for such it is), I hear that a secret core policy is to reclaim the name "spoon" for golf bats exclusively, -leaving Scots with no option but to adopt the EU standard term "kulero" instead. A slippery slope as I'm sure you all know the Porto treaty's definition of one of those.
Farage, understandably, has strong views.
yet more of the same old "the sky is falling" claptrap we've come to expect from Unionist cutlerists
You are all aware that Salmond is an accomplished stirrer and will lead the world-beating West of Scotland spoon industry into a glorious new era, away from the shackles of the Anglo-centric UK spoon establishment
And didn't I just watch the Labour cabinet all heading North on the train yesterday, each one clutching a cardboard packaged Mocha Choca Latte? - bloody heathens, shows their inate lack of tea-stirring ability
Maybe we'll never bring back the halcyon days or the great Clydeside spoonyards celebrated in a thousand folk ballads, but Scottish spoons will be far more competitive in the emerging markets and can only lead the world once more
I'll leave you with the words of Robert Burns:
"Some hae spyuns, but cannae stir
some nae tea but want it
bit we hae spyuns, an we hae tea
so let the Lord be thankit"
You are all aware that Salmond is an accomplished stirrer and will lead the world-beating West of Scotland spoon industry into a glorious new era, away from the shackles of the Anglo-centric UK spoon establishment
And didn't I just watch the Labour cabinet all heading North on the train yesterday, each one clutching a cardboard packaged Mocha Choca Latte? - bloody heathens, shows their inate lack of tea-stirring ability
Maybe we'll never bring back the halcyon days or the great Clydeside spoonyards celebrated in a thousand folk ballads, but Scottish spoons will be far more competitive in the emerging markets and can only lead the world once more
I'll leave you with the words of Robert Burns:
"Some hae spyuns, but cannae stir
some nae tea but want it
bit we hae spyuns, an we hae tea
so let the Lord be thankit"
Edited by Hugo a Gogo on Friday 12th September 07:50
Blib said:
You are aware that Burns secretly imported coffee from the Indies?
You may find he did a bit more than just that...../quotePatrick Douglas was a doctor and friend of Burns with investments in an estate in Jamaica. This made him wealthy through the sugar which was so much in demand in Scotland (We still retain a sweet tooth today!). His brother was the resident manager and had a vacancy on the small white staff of overseers. Burns accepted the position, although some friends worried about his health in the climate, and he planned his emigration from the woes around him.
But the fact that hurts is that, like all West Indian plantations, the Douglas enterprise was firmly built on black slave labour. Some commentators play the 'get-out-of-jail-free card' to RB here. He was 'only to be the bookkeeper'.
Christies Sale - The Benson Collection of Early Spoons Sale
The Benson sale was held at Christie’s King Street at 2pm on the 4th September, and the ebullient auctioneer Hugh Edmeads was faced with a sea of almost twenty eager faces packing the room. There was the usual mixture of collectors and trade (I was buying for stock after finally moving on the Warseeiners - the Belgians finally paid last week, thank heavens), several manned telephones and the inevitable new-fangled "internet" bidding.
There great buzz of anticipation in the room was palpable; would these spoons sell for the estimates? Where was Min Wurbler? - he was supposed to be "bidding big" and his money at Shanghai ExSpoon was what put it on the map. Would so many similar spoons get away? The answer was a resounding yes, twenty nine lots went above top estimate, with the fantastic porticoed Roman spoon (Lot 303) selling for £35,000 hammer, fourteen times top estimate, to a non-spoon collector who acquired it for its sheer beauty. Amazing money for a left-hander, though obviously it's a real looker.
To no-one's surprise, The Apostles failed to sell as a set (at that reserve? crazy!), so Christie’s offered them as individual lots. Even then, it was tough going, with five completely "cold in the room" and only the St. Bartholomew (Lot 324E) looking like it had a sniff. Still didn't sell, but that spoon alone, beautiful though it is (the filigree!) was never going anywhere with a reserve of £75k.
It all looked like it was going to be a damp squib, but fortunately Harry Williams-Bulkeley, (Christie’s Spoonmeister-in-Chief) was "in da house", as my grandson keeps saying! He'd primed Tim Martin of Shrubsole, New York to buy, and as you'll have seen from my previous reports, Manhattan spoon demand is exceptional this season - Tim bought six of the Klondykes just last week, would you believe? Now the action really "kicked off" now, with attention turned back to the Apostles, and Tim instructed Harry to purchase the Lot with a view to keeping the set together. Tim would have been happy to negotiate a post-sale deal on the remaining five Apostles, or the family could cancel the sale and keep the Apostles together and keep them as a memento. Unfortunately for Tim the latter happened and the family considered the sale a complete success. I understand the spoons may well go on display again, probably at the Hanoverian, though I've never considered the lighting there to be much of a success. Still, it has a lovely bar.....
As can be seen from the table below the total hammer price of the spoons achieved was £642,870 against a low estimate of £483,100 and a top estimate of £814,700. The spoons are now spread across the world in their new homes. At least one new spoon collector has been created by this sale as one European telephone bidder purchased sixteen spoons as the start of a spoon collection, and what a start to have! Spoontastic!
The Benson sale was held at Christie’s King Street at 2pm on the 4th September, and the ebullient auctioneer Hugh Edmeads was faced with a sea of almost twenty eager faces packing the room. There was the usual mixture of collectors and trade (I was buying for stock after finally moving on the Warseeiners - the Belgians finally paid last week, thank heavens), several manned telephones and the inevitable new-fangled "internet" bidding.
There great buzz of anticipation in the room was palpable; would these spoons sell for the estimates? Where was Min Wurbler? - he was supposed to be "bidding big" and his money at Shanghai ExSpoon was what put it on the map. Would so many similar spoons get away? The answer was a resounding yes, twenty nine lots went above top estimate, with the fantastic porticoed Roman spoon (Lot 303) selling for £35,000 hammer, fourteen times top estimate, to a non-spoon collector who acquired it for its sheer beauty. Amazing money for a left-hander, though obviously it's a real looker.
To no-one's surprise, The Apostles failed to sell as a set (at that reserve? crazy!), so Christie’s offered them as individual lots. Even then, it was tough going, with five completely "cold in the room" and only the St. Bartholomew (Lot 324E) looking like it had a sniff. Still didn't sell, but that spoon alone, beautiful though it is (the filigree!) was never going anywhere with a reserve of £75k.
It all looked like it was going to be a damp squib, but fortunately Harry Williams-Bulkeley, (Christie’s Spoonmeister-in-Chief) was "in da house", as my grandson keeps saying! He'd primed Tim Martin of Shrubsole, New York to buy, and as you'll have seen from my previous reports, Manhattan spoon demand is exceptional this season - Tim bought six of the Klondykes just last week, would you believe? Now the action really "kicked off" now, with attention turned back to the Apostles, and Tim instructed Harry to purchase the Lot with a view to keeping the set together. Tim would have been happy to negotiate a post-sale deal on the remaining five Apostles, or the family could cancel the sale and keep the Apostles together and keep them as a memento. Unfortunately for Tim the latter happened and the family considered the sale a complete success. I understand the spoons may well go on display again, probably at the Hanoverian, though I've never considered the lighting there to be much of a success. Still, it has a lovely bar.....
As can be seen from the table below the total hammer price of the spoons achieved was £642,870 against a low estimate of £483,100 and a top estimate of £814,700. The spoons are now spread across the world in their new homes. At least one new spoon collector has been created by this sale as one European telephone bidder purchased sixteen spoons as the start of a spoon collection, and what a start to have! Spoontastic!
longblackcoat said:
... the fantastic porticoed Roman spoon (Lot 303) selling for £35,000 hammer, fourteen times top estimate, to a non-spoon collector who acquired it for its sheer beauty. Amazing money for a left-hander, though obviously it's a real looker.
I'd heard it was originally a "righty", and was in fact one of the earliest recorded conversions to left-handed use, with associated witness marks showing the crude, but effective early craftsmanship. Did you get a chance to inspect the spoon up close, and if so, what were your impressions? I love this sort of detail, it really tells the history of the unit, and gives me goosebumps when I think of it. sad day for true stirrers, none of those drawer queens will ever see the inside of a cup again
Although I have it on good authority that at least one of those 'big names' was subject to a very shoddy cosmetic rebuild, so I do just hope no one ever tries to actually stir with the thing - remember the Dauphinoise at the Auchtermuchty Open?
Although I have it on good authority that at least one of those 'big names' was subject to a very shoddy cosmetic rebuild, so I do just hope no one ever tries to actually stir with the thing - remember the Dauphinoise at the Auchtermuchty Open?
Blib said:
Thanks for that, LBC. The excitement in the room must have been quite something to experience. Fourteen times estimate for the Roman is quite remarkable. Good to see the Yanks fighting back after the Far Eastern incursions of recent years.
I wonder where Min was hiding?
Found out that he'd left Europe for a little while. No finger-pointing from me, but remember the Genevois Collection? I understand our chums in the Hauptabteilung Bundessicherheitsdienst would like to have a quiet word........I wonder where Min was hiding?
Hugo a Gogo said:
sad day for true stirrers, none of those drawer queens will ever see the inside of a cup again
Although I have it on good authority that at least one of those 'big names' was subject to a very shoddy cosmetic rebuild, so I do just hope no one ever tries to actually stir with the thing - remember the Dauphinoise at the Auchtermuchty Open?
Who could possibly forget?Although I have it on good authority that at least one of those 'big names' was subject to a very shoddy cosmetic rebuild, so I do just hope no one ever tries to actually stir with the thing - remember the Dauphinoise at the Auchtermuchty Open?
It's how "Fingers" Kinnear got her nickname.
Classic case of a midlife crisis spooner who probably had a little BSS 250 30 years ago trying to relive his youth without really appreciating the power of modern spoons. Stirmax TXR Z Class wasn't it? The homologation special. No doubt with dayglo stirring gloves and a high capacity cup. All the gear no idea.
Tragic for the people and the spoons involved but I do wish people would be a bit more careful before diving in to high performance stirring without building up their knowledge and experience with more modest stirrers first. It's the kind of thing that will lead to stricter licencing, power restrictions and excessive safety requirements for all spoon users.
Tragic for the people and the spoons involved but I do wish people would be a bit more careful before diving in to high performance stirring without building up their knowledge and experience with more modest stirrers first. It's the kind of thing that will lead to stricter licencing, power restrictions and excessive safety requirements for all spoon users.
AJS- said:
Stirmax TXR Z Class wasn't it? The homologation special. No doubt with dayglo stirring gloves and a high capacity cup. All the gear no idea.
Yep, had to use Pyrex at a minimum unless you were very careful. A great spoon, sure, but if you can't even contemplate porcelain, what's the point?The problem is 30 years ago it was very different. Even top level competitive stirring machines were little more than regular domestic spoons without the creature comforts and a few performance tweaks. So a red blooded young man with a little cash in his pocket could emulate his heroes at the weekend and still have a daily stirrer that his wife could use.
Then the big manufacturers got involved and the huge sponsorship deals that came with it. The technology moved to another level and the stirrers who used them became more like professional athletes than tea drinkers. The spoons became more like power drills than something you'd find in the kitchen.
It was a marvellous spectacle for the enthusiast. I remember as a child in theblate 80s watching Gonzales, Gunther and our very own Micky Morrison at full tilt and it was something to behold.
The unfortunate downside was that the club stirrer got left so far behind that it became another world. My father was a life long stirring enthusiast who has owned some amazing spoons (used to have an ex works Vanguard as a daily stir!) and on his day could keep pace with Horowitz and Rodriguez in a local non championship event.
In response the FIS came up with homologation rules and a raft of safety measures in the wake of the tragic 1992 season, and later cost cutting measures when budgets spiralled out of control.
The result however seems to have been the opposite. You could practically enter a cement mixer into the current formula provided you could sell 5000 as spoons.
The result is that old school stirrers who know no other way than flat out on the fastest spoon available are now returning to the passion of their youth in their 50s and 60s but using spoons that were never designed for home use. It's a recipe for disaster.
I fear we'll see more and more of these accidents as people keep underestimating the dangers and overestimating their abilities.
Then the big manufacturers got involved and the huge sponsorship deals that came with it. The technology moved to another level and the stirrers who used them became more like professional athletes than tea drinkers. The spoons became more like power drills than something you'd find in the kitchen.
It was a marvellous spectacle for the enthusiast. I remember as a child in theblate 80s watching Gonzales, Gunther and our very own Micky Morrison at full tilt and it was something to behold.
The unfortunate downside was that the club stirrer got left so far behind that it became another world. My father was a life long stirring enthusiast who has owned some amazing spoons (used to have an ex works Vanguard as a daily stir!) and on his day could keep pace with Horowitz and Rodriguez in a local non championship event.
In response the FIS came up with homologation rules and a raft of safety measures in the wake of the tragic 1992 season, and later cost cutting measures when budgets spiralled out of control.
The result however seems to have been the opposite. You could practically enter a cement mixer into the current formula provided you could sell 5000 as spoons.
The result is that old school stirrers who know no other way than flat out on the fastest spoon available are now returning to the passion of their youth in their 50s and 60s but using spoons that were never designed for home use. It's a recipe for disaster.
I fear we'll see more and more of these accidents as people keep underestimating the dangers and overestimating their abilities.
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