Posted 12 years ago
vetraio50
(756 items)
An Olympic moment?
No just a collection of SPLAYDS, Australian Sporfs .... not Sports. Australia loves 'sporfs' and sports too! A nation of sportsmen and sporfspersons.
By the way: Congratulations to BB Michael PHELPS on his amazing personal Olympic achievements in London, Beijing and Athens!
Sporf?
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
"These were designed by William McArthur in the 1940s in Sydney, Australia. A magazine photo that showed women at a party awkwardly balancing cutlery and plates of food on their laps inspired William McArthur to invent the Splayd, a single-handed fork, spoon and cutting blade. From 1943 to 1967 his wife Suzanne used and sold them in her Martha Washington Café in Sydney. In 1960 she sold the design to Australian tableware manufacturer Stokes Pty Ltd. "
In addition to an overall spoon shape with four fork tines, it has two hard, flat edges on either side, suitable for cutting through soft food.
The UK Licensee for manufacturing and distribution of "Splayds" was held by Viners of Sheffield during the 1970s. At that time they were one of the biggest cutlery manufacturers in Great Britain.
"Released in 1962, when buffet lunches and barbecues were becoming popular in Australia, Splayds caught on quickly and were a favourite wedding gift in the 1970s.??By 1991 Stokes had sold 4.75 million Splayds in 52 countries - that's one for every 800 people on Earth!"
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/australia_innovates/?behaviour=view_article&Section_id=1040&article_id=10103
Maybe you have some of them? I use them each day and have a whole section in the cutlery box for them. I have them in three sizes. The smallest ones are not often seen.
Gad!!...I have to love these!!!.. I have a set still in their box made by Stokes of Melbourne.....How small are the small ones vetraio50?....:)
Many thanks trgrubaugh, czechman, Sean 'n inky too!
Hi inky!
The large stainless ones are 17.5 cm and the smaller ones in 'gold' are 14.5 cm.
I have a box of stainless small ones but I am missing two. I just went to 'the shed' and can't find them yet! Oops!
Thanks vetraio!...the ones I have are exactly 18cm long, never use mine I forgot I had them till I saw yours!....:-)
Tonight is Indian, Beef Buffad; so they will be used yet again. My daily shovels!
yum!....my favourite!....;-)
Many thanks austrohungaro!
What fun! I have really enjoyed the Olympics too. I am staying up too late watching though. I like how you have the theme. Yum, I love Indian food!
Many thanks Amber and to you too musikchoo!
Many thanks Phil and mikie!
Hi guys, just wondering if anyone knows the origin and era of the gold played Splayds? I was lucky enough to come across a set of full sized Splayds but cannot get any information about them... Not even Splayds Australia know of them?...!? Can anyone help? Thanks!
Plated***
Nor I! Well done, though on the find.
Many thanks NEWFLD !!.!!!.!!