"PARTY PIECES" CAROUSEL BY LUKE LTD

From the shed came a dozen of these "Party Pieces". Australian kitsch! They have been lurking in the drawer of the shed with some other silver and silver-plated items. These Party Pieces are a form of a 'sporf' - a single eating utensil combining the properties of a spoon, fork, and knife.

Australia loves 'sporfs'!

The name "sporf" is a similar 'portmanteau' to that of other combination utensils:
spife - a spoon and knife combination
spork - a spoon and fork combination
knork - a knife and fork combination
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporf

I have normal eating utensils (several sets indeed) but I have enough 'sporfs' to fill up the the dish-washer basket on their own.

The origins of these Party Pieces were a mystery just resolved today with a bit of research into a Melbourne, Australia Company called "K.G. Luke Pty Ltd."

This company was founded by a famous Melbournian "Sir Kenneth Luke (11 November 1896 - 13 June 1971) a self-made millionaire manufacturer and a leading Australian rules football administrator in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was president of the VFL between 1956 and 1971 and president of the Carlton Football Club from 1938 to 1955." Wikipedia.

Sir Kenneth began a silver-plating firm that produced wares that were ubiquitous here in Australia in the post-war years: "Paramount" Plate. My mother had tons of it! She received a lot of it as wedding presents and bored with cleaning the silver-plate had it all chromed in the sixties!

These pieces have all the colours of a Carousel on their handles. I just enjoy the attempt at being contemporary in the early seventies when I believe these were made. They look vaguely Scandinavian - vaguely! I have not yet been able to find out the name of the designer. A work in progress!

K.G. Luke Pty Ltd. electro plate manufacturers factory, 28-58 Queens Parade, Fitzroy North, Melbourne, Australia.