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Detail 1

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Medicine spoons like this were fairly common items in doctors' offices and pharmacies in the 19th century. It is made of glass, which made it in some ways superior to other materials of the day: it did not tarnish, nor did it chemically react or absorb the material it held. This spoon has lines along its sides that give several points for the measurement of liquids, particularly medicines. The "TW" makers' mark in its center probably means that the spoon was made between 1882 and 1885 by the medical and pharmaceutical glass factory at Armstrong, Pennsylvania. Purchased in 1882 by the Thomas Wightman Company of Pittsburgh, the company both changed its name, and its trademark, to the Wightman Glass Company in 1885. This spoon was owned by the Hackley family, residents of Deerfield, Massachusetts, who operated a drugstore in nearby Greenfield in the 19th century.

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"Graduated Medicine Spoon No. 40"

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