Description
Made of carved bovine cow bone and circular ringed bamboo with some red enameling this is a vintage Art Deco to early mid century barware and dinner ware lemon serving fork. Size measures 5″ long. Width across is 1/4″. The handle section is completely circular, rounded tapering down to the prongs which are less rounded but not flat. Other than a little age wear to the red enameling it is in excellent condition overall. No cracks, chip, flakes or breaks. Never altered, repaired or modified. All original and from an estate many decades ago. The grain is noticeably cow bone and it has the age wear luster/shine that you only see on very old bone items. The were very popular from the late Victorian era to 1935 as Asian import and were used as lemon and olive servers frequently joined to a barware set and also found as servers on formal dining tables. Given the red enameling this one is most likely from the 1930s. Lovely addition for your vintage and antique formal dining table or bar room.
AI Reference:
Design Details
The ringed, bamboo-style handle turning and the colorful painted accent on the top finial are classic decorative markers of vintage bone barware sets from the 20th century
Antique or vintage bovine bone cocktail / hors d’oeuvres fork, most commonly used as a lemon fork or olive pick.
These all-bone utensils typically measure between 4.5 and 6 inches long. They were popular mid-century items (often imported from Japan or other parts of Asia between the 1930s and 1960s), though the style mimics earlier Victorian bone implements.
Two-pronged bovine bone lemon forks were primarily imported from Asia to the West (such as the US and Europe) during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, peaking in popularity between the 1890s and the 1920s.This specific period marks the height of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, when “high tea” and formal dining reached peak popularity. Artisans in Asian countries (particularly Japan and China) carved these utensils in large quantities from cattle bone and buffalo horn to meet Western demand for elegant, inexpensive flatware.
Primary Culinary Uses
Because these forks contain no metal, they were highly functional for serving acidic or briny foods that could otherwise corrode or tarnish metal silverware
Lemon and Lime Forks: Placed on a tea tray, bar cart, or dining table to allow guests to elegantly stab and lift citrus slices without getting juice on their fingers.
Cocktail and Olive Picks: Used at parties to spear olives, cocktail onions, cherries, or cheese cubes from deep jars and platters
Hors d’oeuvres / Appetizer Forks: Perfect for picking up small finger foods, cold cuts, or seafood like sardines from a charcuterie board.
