Catharine Poe Bard's Indian Spoon

This is a picture of Catharine's spoon that she used during her Delaware Indian captivity of two years and five months. This picture was taken in 1983 by Curtis Bard (cbard1@verizon.net) of "Bard's Delight". The spoon has been passed down the maternal side of the family, from Catharine Poe Bard to her daughter Martha, to her daughter Catharine Wilson, to her daughter Rachel McMean of Blue Ash, Ohio, and is presently in the possession of Ann Bunis of Cincinnati, Ohio and is to be passed to her daughter Katharine Poe Bunis.

The spoon is also pictured on page 186 of the Bard Book, and is described as such:

An interesting relic of Mrs. Bard's captivity is still in existence. It is a great horn spoon, made for her use by one of her Indian "brothers," and used by her during her stay with the Delawares... This interesting relic was made of black horn,with a handle elaborately carved at the top. The handle measures seven and three-fourths inches to the bowl, and extends one and three-eighths inches on the bowl's bottom. The bottom of the bowl is four and one-half inches in length on the outside, and across the top its length is four and one-eighth inches. It is two inches in width across the top. The bowl is a little over half an inch in depth. It has a large hook carved out of the horn at the head of the handle, by which its owner was accustomed to hang it on the kettle when not in use. The hook is carried one and three-quarters inches towards the bowl. The carving of the handle below the hook is graceful in outline and considering the rude tools with which it was done, artistic in execution. It consists of three beadings, with two interspaces gracefully curved. Words are not sufficiently expressive to convey a picture of the handiwork to the mind, and so an appeal must be made through the eye by means of the accompanying illustration. From the beading the handle gradually slopes from two and an eighth to one and an eighth inches at the bowl, where it is slightly flattened, the bowl extending an inch upward from the place of joint contact with the handle. Experts declare that the spoon is the largest and the handle the longest ever exhibited in this country. - (BB Pg 185-187)

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